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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 




Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington, D.C. 
Commander Robert Edwin Peary, U.S.N. 
Who reached the Pole April 6, 1909 



THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

THE STORY OF 

POLAR EXPLORATION 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE 
DISCOVERY OF THE POLE 



BY 

HELEN S. WRIGHT 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1910 

All rights reserved 



^v 



Copyright, 1910, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1910. 



NotSxrooo Preaa 

J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



• CI. A 2? 3t> 1)7 



PREFACE 

The material for this book has been gathered from the 
rich storehouse of Arctic Literature. The chief labour 
of its composition lay in elimination rather than construc- 
tion. The great field I have endeavoured to present can 
hardly be brought with justice to the narrow bounds of 
a single cover, but I have conscientiously endeavoured 
to bring to the reader's mind an accurate record of bril- 
liant deeds that go to make the history of the far North, 
and have let the explorers themselves tell the story of how 
these deeds have been accomplished. 

Between the lines of their simple language describing 
stern facts or desperate realities, one reads the character 
and temperament of the adventurer ; one gathers lessons 
of patience, self-sacrifice, and endurance unsurpassed in 
the history of mankind, and perhaps appreciates, for the 
first time, the splendid fibre of which he is made. Stripped 
of the conventions and luxuries of civilized life, he plunges 
into the great unknown to fight a relentless war against 
the greatest foes to his existence, — Cold, Starvation, and 
Death. Though he may fall by the wayside a victim to 
the Cause, or crawl home on hands and knees over the 
rough fastnesses of the frozen wilderness, famishing, — per- 
haps dying, — the record of his work lives on ; the fun- 
damental principles of great character do not perish, but 
stand through the centuries, a star of hope to the weary 



vi PREFACE 

traveller on his pilgrimage along the well-trodden path- 
way of everyday life, and stirs the layman to a better 
endurance of the burdens and perplexities of the common 
lot. 

It is with pleasure I make grateful acknowledgment 
to the gentlemen who have accorded me their gracious 
permission to quote from their works, to Commander 
Robert E. Peary, to Major-General A. W. Greely, and 
Sir Allen Young, and to the following publishers and 
others who, by furnishing material or giving consent to 
use selected matter, or by kind assistance in other ways, 
have made my work possible: The American Publishing 
Company, Hartford, Conn., for selections from "Our 
Lost Explorers " ; D. Appleton & Company for selections 
from Charles Lanman's " Farthest North " and Payer's 
" New Lands within the Arctic Circle " ; The Century 
Company for selections from General Greely's article 
on " The Northwest Passage " ; to Clinedinst, Washing- 
ton, D.C., for permission to reproduce the copyright 
portraits of Admirals Schley and Melville, General Greely, 
and Commander Peary; Constable & Company, and E. P. 
Dutton & Company, Ltd., London, for permission to 
reproduce the portrait of Amundsen in the latter's work, 
" The Northwest Passage " ; Doubleday, Page & Company 
for selections from Commander Peary's " Nearest the 
Pole," and for the portrait of Anthony Fiala and other 
illustrations from the latter's work, "Fighting the Polar 
Ice " ; The Encyclopaedia Britannica Company for a selec- 
tion from an article by Markham on " Polar Regions " ; 
to J. Scott Keltie, Esq., editor of the Geographical Jour- 
nal, for selections from that journal; Houghton; Mifflin 
Company for selections from " The Voyage of the Jean- 



PREFACE vil 

nette " and Melville's " In the Lena Delta " ; Dodd, Mead 
& Company for selections from the Duke of Abruzzi's 
"On the Polar Star"; Benjamin B. Hampton, Esq., for 
permission to reproduce photographs of the Peary expe- 
dition of 1908 and Commander Peary's map, and Mr. 
Hampton and the New York Times for permission to quote 
Commander Peary's telegram announcing his discovery 
of the Pole ; the editor of the Illustrated London News 
for permission to reproduce the portraits of Sir Edward 
Belcher, Captain Nares, and Commander Markham ; 
Little, Brown & Company for selections from General 
Greely's " Handbook of Polar Discoveries " ; The London 
Agency for Ordnance Maps for selections from Sir Allen 
Young's " Pandora Voyages " ; Longmans, Green & Com- 
pany for selections from Nansen's "First Crossing of 
Greenland " and Sverdrup's " New Land " ; the editor of 
Me dure' s Magazine for a selection from Mr. Baldwin's 
article on "The Baldwin-Ziegler Arctic Expedition," 
which appeared in that magazine in 1901-1902 ; Albert 
Operti, Esq., for permission to reproduce the portraits 
of W. H. Gilder, Lieutenant Schwatka, Colonel Brainard, 
Captain De Long, and Lieutenant Lockwood ; C. Kegan 
Paul & Company for a selection from Markham's " Great 
Frozen Sea"; G. P. Putnam's Sons for a selection from 
Mr. Alger's article on "Roald Amundsen," which ap- 
peared in Putnam s Monthly ; the editor of the American 
Review of Reviews for a selection from Mr. McGrath's 
article on " Polar Exploration," which appeared in that 
magazine ; Sampson, Low, Marston & Company, London, 
for a selection from " German Arctic Expeditions " ; 
Charles Scribner's Sons for a selection from Schwatka's 
"Search," Greely's "Three Years' Arctic Service," and 



Vlll PREFACE 

Schley's " Rescue of Greely " ; P. A. Stokes Company for 
permission to reproduce illustrations from Commander 
Peary's work, " The North Pole," and for the loan of 
photographs ; and to the same company for selections 
from Andree's " Balloon Expedition " and Peary's "North- 
ward over the Great Ice." 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Early adventurers. Pytheas. — Dicuil. — Other. — Wulf stan. — The 
Norsemen. — Iva Bardsen. — The Cabots. — The Cortereals. — 
Willoughby and Chancellor. — Stephen Burrough. — Niccolo 
Zeno. — Frobisher. — Pet and Jackman. — Sir Humphrey Gil- 
bert. — Davis. — Barentz 1 

CHAPTER II 

Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Hudson. — Baffin. — Desh- 
neff . — Behring. — Schalaroff. — Tchitschagof. — Anjou and Von 
Wrangell. — Phipps 18 

CHAPTER III 

Early nineteenth century. Ross and Parry, May 3, 1818. Object 
of voyage, search for Northwest Passage through Davis Strait 
and explore bays and channels described by Baffin. — Met natives 
near Melville Bay. — The discovery by Ross of the famous Crim- 
son Cliffs. — Enters Lancaster Sound. — Advance barred by im- 
aginary Crocker Mountains. — Return of expedition to England. 
— Buchan and Franklin North Polar expedition via Greenland 
and Spitzbergen. — Dorothea and Trent in Magdalena Bay, June 
3, 1818. — Reached high latitude of 80° 37' N. — Course directed 
to east coast of Greenland. — Disastrous battle with the ice. — 
Dorothea disabled. — Hasty return to England 29 

CHAPTER IV 

1819-1827. Parry's first voyage. — Object, to survey Lancaster 
Sound and prove the non-existence of Crocker Mountains. — 
Discovery of new lands. — Parry Islands. — Attains longitude 
110° W., thereby winning the bounty of five thousand pounds 

ix 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



offered by Parliament. — Winters near Melville Island. Second 
voyage. — Ships Hecla and Fury. — Examines Duke of York Bay 

and Frozen Strait of Middleton. — Winters off Lyon Inlet. 

Sledge journeys. — Object, to make Northwest Passage via Prince 
Regent Inlet. — Reached Port Bowen. — Ten months' impris- 
onment. — Destruction of the Fury. — Hasty return to England. 
Fourth voyage. —Purpose to reach the Pole via Spitzbergen 
with sledge boats over ice. —Hecla as transport. — Parry's 
farthest 82° 45' N. reached, June 23, 1827 41 

CHAPTER V 

Nineteenth century continued. Scoresby and Clavering. — Former 
■visited Jan Mayens Island in 1817. — Later he visited east coast 
of Greenland. — Discovered Scoresby Sound. In 1824, Cap- 
tain Lyon surveyed Melville Peninsula. —Adjoining straits 
and shores of Arctic America. — In 1825, Captain Beechey in 
the Blossom sailed through Behring Strait and passed beyond 
Icy Cape. — Surveyed the coast as far as Point Barrow, adding 
126 miles of new shore. — Second voyage of Captain John Ross. 

— Undertaken in 1829. —Discovers Boothia. — Wintered in 
Felix Harbor. — Discovery of North Magnetic Pole by nephew 
of Captain John Ross. — Commander James Clark Ross. — 
Valuable observations. — Sledge journeys to mainland. — Four 
years spent in the Arctic. — Perilous retreat. — Safe return. 
Land journey by Captain Back. — The Great Fish-Back River. — 

— Point Ogle. — Point Richardson. — Back's farthest point was 
68° 13' 57" north latitude, 94° 58' 1" west longitude. Land jour- 
neys of Simpson and Dease, 1836. — Descend the Mackenzie 
River to the sea. — Surveyed west shore between Return Reef 
and Cape Barrow. — In 1839, they explored shores of Victoria 
Land as far as Cape Parry. — Crossed Coronation Gulf. — De- 
scended the Coppermine. — Reached the Polar Sea. Overland 
journey in 1846 by Dr. John Rae confirmed Captain John Ross's 
statement that Boothia was a peninsula 57 

CHAPTER VI 

Sir John Franklin. — Early life. — First land expedition of 1 819-1821. 

— Journey from York Factory to Cumberland House. — Reach 
Fort Providence. — Winter at Fort Enterprise. — Explorations. 



CONTENTS XI 

PAGE 

— 5550 miles. — Hardship. — Starvation. — Return. Second 
land journey. — 1825. — Winter quarters at Great Bear Lake. 

— Descent of the Mackenzie River to the Polar Sea. — 1200 
miles of coast added to map. The last journey of Sir John 
Franklin, 1845. — The Erebus and Terror. — Last seen in Mel- 
ville Bay 79 

CHAPTER VII 

Search for Sir John Franklin. Captain Kellett. — Captain Moore. 

— Dr. Richardson. — Dr. Rae. — Sir J. C. Ross. — Mr. Parker. 

— Dr. Goodsir. — Collinson, M'Clure. — The Felix. — Prince 
Albert. — Commanded hy Charles C. Forsyth. — Captain Aus- 
tin's squadron. — Captain Ommaney. — Lieutenant Sherard 
Osborn. — Commander Cator. — Grinnell expedition under De 
Haven 95 

CHAPTER VIII 

Search for Sir John Franklin continued. Sledge journey of Captain 
Austin's squadron. — Return of Prince Albert under command 
of Captain Kennedy. — Bellot 120 

CHAPTER IX 

Search for Sir John Franklin continued. Sir Edward Belcher's 
squadron. — Inglefield. — Rae's journey. — Discovery of North- 
west Passage by Captain M'Clure. — Death of Bellot. . . 141 

CHAPTER X 

Sledging parties of Sir Edward Belcher's squadron. — Desertion 
of the ships. — Return to England. Story of the Besolute. — 
Traces of Sir John Franklin discovered by Dr. Rae. — Ander- 
son's journey. — The voyage of the Fox under Commander 
M'Clintock. — Sledge journeys. — Record and relics of Frank- 
lin's expedition. — Fox returns to England .... 174 

CHAPTER XI 

The second Grinnell expedition. Commanded by Dr. Elisha K. 
Kane. — Winter quarters in Rensselaer Harbor. — Sledging 



Xll CONTENTS 



trips. — To the rescue. — Effects of exhaustion and cold. — Dr. 
Kane's journey. — Great Glacier of Humboldt. — Return and 
illness of Dr. Kane. Second winter in the ice. — Privations 
and suffering. — Abandonment of the Advance. — Retreat and 
rescue ,. 199 

CHAPTER XII 

Dr. Hayes's expedition. Winter quarters at Port Foulke, Greenland 
coast.- — Death of Sonntag. — Dr. Hayes's journey. — Attempt 
to cross Smith Sound. — Hayes's farthest. — "Open Polar Sea." 

— Homeward bound 235 

CHAPTER XIII 

Charles Erancis Hall. — Early life. — Interest in fate of Sir John 
Eranklin. — Eirst journey to Greenland. — Discovery of Fro- 
bisher relics. — Experiences and study of the Eskimos. Sec- 
ond journey. — Delays and disappointments. — Sledging trips. 

— King William Land at last. — Franklin relics. — Beturn of 
Hall to United States. Polaris expedition. — Reaches high 
northing. — Hall's sledge journey. — Return and death. — Po- 
laris winters. — No escape. — Polaris is wrecked. — Part of 
crew adrift on the ice-floe. — Remainder build winter hut. — 
Final rescue and return to United States 243 

CHAPTER XIV 

Captain Thomas Long. — Discovery of Wrangell Land. — Captain 
Carlsen and Captain Palliser sail across the Sea of Kara. — Cap- 
tain Johannesen circumnavigates Nova Zembla. First German 
expedition. — Second German expedition. — Germania, Captain 
Koldewey commanding. — Hansa, Captain Hegemann. — Depar- 
ture from Bremen. — Crossing the Arctic Circle. — Island of Jan 
Mayen. — The ice line. — Separation from the Hansa. — Adrift 
on the ice-floe. — Winter. — Final rescue. — Germania beset. 

— Winter. — Sledging parties. — Lieutenant Payer's remark- 
able journey — 77° V north latitude. — Return of the Germania 268 

CHAPTER XV 

Norwegian expedition, 1871. Payer and Weyprecht. — The Tegett- 
hoff adrift in the Polar pack. — Discovery of Franz Josef Land. — 



CONTENTS xiii 



Payer's sledge journeys. — Payer's farthest 82° 5' north latitude. 

— Cape Fligely. — Abandonment of the Tegetthoff. — Retreat of 
officers and crew. — Picked up by Russian fishermen. — Home 286 

CHAPTER XVI 

Baron A. E. von Nordenskjold. — First voyage, 1858. — Accom- 
panies succeeding Swedish expeditions. — Spitzbergen. — Voy- 
age of Sofia. — 1808. — Nordenskjold's journey to Greenland. — 
Voyage of the Polhem. — Attempt to reach the Pole by reindeer 
sledge. — Unexpected discouragements and disasters. — Voyage 
of the Proven. — 1875. — The Kara Sea. — Journey repeated 
the following year. — In the Ymer. — Voyage of the Vega . . 298 

CHAPTER XVII 

British expedition of 1875. The Alert and Discovery. — Captain 
George S. Nares, F. R. S., Albert H. Markham, F. R. G. S. — 
Two voyages of the Pandora, 1875-1876. Schwatka's search 
for the Franklin records, 1878-1879 310 

CHAPTER XVIII 

The Jeannette expedition, 1879-1881. In command of Captain George 
W. DeLong. — Leaves San Francisco. — Touches at Ounalaska, 
August 2. — Reaches Lawrence Bay, East Siberia, August 15. — 
Last seen by whale bark Sea Breeze near Herald Island, Septem- 
ber 2. —The Jeannette beset in ice-pack September 5, never 
again released. — Daily routine of officers and crew. — Ship 
springs a leak. — A frozen summer. — Sight of new land. — A 
second winter in the pack. — The Jeannette crushed. — Aban- 
donment. — The retreat. — The fate of the three boats. — Death 
of De Long's party. — Melville's search 345 

CHAPTER XIX 

International circumpolar stations. — Failure of Dutch expedition. 

— Greely expedition reaches Lady Franklin Bay. — Life at Fort 
Conger. — Sledge journey of Brainard and Lockwood. — Farthest 
north. — Greely's journey to interior of Grinnell Land. — Lake 
Hazen. — Failure of relief ship Neptune to reach Conger in 1882. 



XIV CONTENTS 



— Official plans for Greely's relief in 1883. — Proteus crushed 
in ice. — Garlington's retreat. — Greely's abandonment of Fort 
Conger. — Greely reaches Cape Sabine. — The beginning of a 
hard winter. — Death of members of the party from starvation 
and cold. — Schley's brilliant rescue of the remnant of the Lady 
Franklin Bay expedition in 1884 . . . ' . . . 369 

CHAPTER XX 

Nansen. — The man. — First Arctic experience. — Plans the crossing 
of Greenland. — Carries out his great undertaking. — Voyage on 
the Fram. — Drifting with the current. — Life aboard. — Nan- 
sen and Johannesen start for the Pole. — Difficulties of travel. 

— The "Farthest North !" — The retreat. — A winter on the 
Franz Josef Land. — Attempt to reach Spitzbergen by kayak. 

— The meeting at Cape Flora with Frederick Jackson. — Home 

in the Windward 401 

CHAPTER XXI 

Journeys of Dr. A. Bunge and Baron E. von Toll. Exploration in 
Spitzbergen. — Sir Martin Conway. — Dr. A. G. Nathorst. — 
Professor J. H. Gore. — Andrew's balloon expedition to the North 
Pole. — Search for Andr6e by Theodor Lerner. — J. Stadling. 

— Dr. A. G. Nathorst. — Captain Bade. — Walter Wellman's 
plan to reach the Pole from Spitzbergen. — Italian expedition 
under Duke of Abruzzi. — Loss of the Stella Polare. — Captain 
Umberto Cagni's journey. — Breaks the record. — Retreat. — 
Home. — Baldwin-Ziegler expedition of 1900. — Complete equip- 
ment. — Return of expedition in autumn. — Ziegler expedition 
under Anthony Fiala. — The America reaches high northing. — 
Winters in Triplitz Bay. — Is destroyed. — Failure of sledge 
journeys. — Relief ship does not come. — Second winter. — Re- 
turn of party by Terra Nova in 1903 . . . .... 417 

CHAPTER XXII 

Otto Sverdrup. — Four years' voyage of the Fram. — Journeys in 
Ellesmere Land. — Important exploration of Jones Sound. — Dis- 
covery of new lands. — Release of the Fram. Captain Roald 
Amundsen. — The voyage of the Gjoa. — Reaches head of Peter- 



CONTENTS XV 

PAGE 

sen Bay (King "Williarn Land). — Two years' stay — Valuable 
scientific observations. — Visits from Eskimos. — Sledge jour- 
neys. — Release from the ice. — August 14, 11)06. — Completion 
of the Northwest Passage. — Another Arctic winter. — Sledge 
journey of Amundsen to Eagle City. — Release of the Gjoa. — 
Reaches San Francisco, 1907 435 

CHAPTER XXIII 

Robert E. Peary. — The man. — First visit to the Arctic, 1886. — 
Other journeys, 1891. — Independence Bay, Greenland. — Dis- 
covers Melville Land and Heilprin Land. — Subsequent jour- 
neys, 1893-1895. — Discovery of famous " Iron Mountain.' 1 — 
Summer voyages, 1896-1897. — North Pole journey of 1898. — 
Peary seriously disabled by frost-bites. — Polar expedition in 
S.S. Boosevelt, 1905-1906. —Final dash for the Pole, 1908 . 455 

CHAPTER XXIV 

Dr. Frederick A. Cook. — Claims discovery of the Pole. — His return 
from the Arctic. — Reception by the Danes. — Announcement 
of conquest of the Pole by Peary. — Denounces Dr. Cook. — 
Acceptance of Peary's claims by the American Geographical 
Society. — Dr. Cook sends manuscript to Copenhagen. — Ver- 
dict. — Prior claim to the discovery of the North Pole. — Not 
proven 470 

Explanation of Terms 477 

Index 481 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Commander Robert Edwin Peary Frontispiece 

Hondius his Map of the Arctike Pole, or Northerne World . . xx 

FACING PAGE 

Sebastian Cabot 3 

Sir Hugh Willoughby 7 

Martin Frobisher 10 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert 14 

Davis's Ships Sunshine and Moonshine 17 . 

The Death of Henry Hudson 21 

Peter Feodorovitsch Anjou 28 - 

Ferdinand von Wrangell 28 

Captain John Ross, R.N 32 ^ 

Entering Lancaster Sound 52 

John Franklin 80 

Upernavik 99 . 

Henry Grinnell 110 

The Graves on Beechey Island 113 

E. K. Kane 120 

The Rescue in Melville Bay 128 

Landing near Grinnell Cape 170 

Nipped in the Ice 180 

A Gale in the Arctic Sea 209 

The Outlook from Cape George Russell 215 

Humboldt Glacier 218 

I. I. Hayes .... 224 

Five Members of the Grinnell Expedition 231 

Tennyson's Monument 234 

Frobisher' s Map of Meta Incognita . . . " . . . . 243 - 

Funeral of Captain Hall 254 

Jan Mayen Island 273 

A. E. Nordenskjold 288 

Foul Bay 305 

The Vega in Konyam Bay 309 

xvii 



xvm 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PACING PAGE 

The Crew of the Vega . . 316 

Disco Island 320 

Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, U.S.A. ....... 337 

W. H. Gilder 344 

Captain G. W. De Long, U.S.N . .352 

Rear Admiral George W. Melville, U.S.N. . . . . .369 

Colonel David Legge Brainard, U.S.A 373 

Lieutenant James B. Lockwood, U.S.A 380 

General A. W. Greely, U.S.A . ' . .384 

Rear Admiral Schley, U.S.N 400 

The Retreat of 1904 — Sledge Column leaving Cape Mellinbock . 433 

Breaking Camp at Cape Richthope . 433 

Anthony Fiala 437 

Roald Amundsen 444 

Cape Flora in Early July, 1904 448 

The Coal Mine at Cape Flora 448 

The Roosevelt drying her Sails 456 

Cairn erected over the Body of Marvin 460 

Camp Morris Jesup 462 

The Peary Sledge . . .464 

Christmas Dinner on the Roosevelt 464 

The Flag that Peary carried to the Pole 468 

Map of Arctic Explorations, 1850-1909 474 



THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

CHAPTER I 

Early adventurers: Pytheas. — Dicuil. — Other. — Wulfstan. — 
The Norsemen. — Iva Bardsen. — The Cabots. — The Cortereals. 
— Willoughby and Chancellor. — Stephen Burrough. — Niccolo 
Zeno. — Frobisher. — Pet and Jackman. — Sir Humphrey Gil- 
bert. — Davis. — Barentz. 

A grave old world, majestically swinging upon its axis, 
the mystery of its northern extremity locked closely within 
its breast, is suddenly electrified by the news that at last 
man, for centuries baffled in his heroic efforts, has revealed 
its hidden secret, and that Old Glory, symbol of the daring 
of the moderns, floats from the Pole itself. 

What a thrill of interest passes over the nations of the 
earth ; universal excitement ; universal rejoicings. Cable- 
gram, Marconigram, carry the wonderful tidings under the 
seas or around the world in space. 

The Pole at last! For ages the northern lights have 
beckoned the adventurous spirits to fathom the phenomena 
of the great unknown, have lured man into harbours fantastic 
with the frozen ice of centuries, have inspired him to cross 
the Greenland ice cap ■ — or make his lonely trail through the 
"barrens" of North America or the desolate "tundra" of 
Siberia, his dauntless courage unquenched by previous records 
of privation, starvation, and death itself. One after another 
of intrepid explorers have left their stories of thrilling ad- 
venture, and record of their names or those of their bene- 
factors to mark their personal discoveries. 
b 1 



2 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

What a history, what suffering, what sacrifice, compensated 
by great achievement, by heroism, by glory — by the addi- 
tions to the world's record of scientific knowledge! 

Who were the early mariners that aspired to penetrate the 
unknown seas of ice ? Far back in the centuries, Pytheas, 
bold adventurer, brought back rumours of an island in the 
Arctic Circle called Thule, at first welcomed by the ancients 
as a wonderful discovery, but afterwards discredited. In the 
ninth century some Irish monks, carried away by religious 
enthusiasm and an adventurous spirit, seem to have visited 
Iceland, and one, Dicuil by name, left written evidence, about 
825, confirming the story of the island Thule, which some of 
the brethren visited, and reported there was no darkness at 
the summer solstice. Other and Wulfstan, athirst for dis- 
covery and knowledge, set sail in the reign of King Alfred, 
and in all probability the former rounded the North Cape 
and visited the shores of Lapland, though his exact discoveries 
cannot now be identified. 

The hardy Norsemen, realizing the advantage of hunting 
and barter among the natives of Greenland, made permanent 
settlements at Brattelid and Einarsfjord. As far as 73° 
north latitude a cairn was found, and upon a runic stone was 
a date 1235, and there is evidence that other settlers reached 
as far as latitude 75° 46' N. and Barrow Strait in 1266 or 
thereabouts. Toward the middle of the fourteenth century 
Norway was cursed with the Black Death, and the colonists 
in far-off Greenland were forgotten. Forsaken by their own 
countrymen, they received little assistance from the . native 
Eskimos, for we read they were overrun and attacked by 
them about 1349. A rare old document, the oldest work on 
Arctic geography, consisting of sailing directions for reaching 
the colony from Ireland, was written by one Iva Bardsen, 
the steward of the Bishopric of Gardar, in the East Bygd. 
Bardsen was a native of Greenland and went forth for the 




From the " Harford " portrait attributed to Holbein 
Sebastian Cabot 



THE CABOTS 3 

purpose of helping the sister colony. All of this early his- 
tory is vague and unsatisfying, but it shows the adventurous 
spirit of those early mariners. Within the next hundred 
years, that is to say between 1348 and 1448, at rare intervals 
there was some communication with the Greenland settle- 
ments, but finally it ceased altogether. Later the desire to 
find a short route to India inspired merchantman and mariner 
to cross the Arctic Circle, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries expeditions of note, led by men of dauntless spirit, 
find their record upon the pages of history. 

Born in Bristol, England, about 1476, Sebastian Cabot, 
ambitious son of an adventurous father, John Cabot, became 
zealous at an early age, through the successes of Columbus, 
to attempt a like achievement. Father and son proposed 
to Henry VII to sail west, and reach India by a shorter route. 
The king, pleased with the idea of entering a new field of 
maritime discovery, confided to the Cabots the execution of 
this plan. A patent was granted March 5, 1496. "It em- 
powered them to seek out, subdue, and occupy, at their own 
charges, any regions which before had been unknown to all 
Christians." They were empowered to take possession of 
such lands and set up the royal banner. They were au- 
thorized to return to the port of Bristol and no other, and 
a fifth of the gains of the voyage were to be turned over to 
the crown. The following year, 1497, John and Sebastian 
sailed from Bristol in the good ship Mathew. 

By the records of an old map of this period the land first 
seen by the Cabots was the coast of Nova Scotia or Island 
of Cape Breton. The Cabots designated the mainland as 
"Prima Terra Vesta," and is outlined between 45° and 50°, 
showing land called St. Juan, no doubt Prince Edward Island 
and mouth of the St. Lawrence. In the Privy Purse expenses 
of Henry VII there is the following interesting expenditure, 
"10th of August, 1497. To him that found the new Isle, 



4 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

£10." No doubt, this modest sum was paid for Newfound- 
land. 

With the enthusiasm of the first voyagers stimulating them 
to fresh effort, the Cabots secured a second "patent" to John 
Cabot, dated February 3, 1498, giving him the command of 
six vessels, of not more than two hundred tons each, and to 
quote the exact words of this document, "them convey and 
lede to the lande and isles of late found by the said John in 
oure name and by oure commandment." 

But before the small fleet was in readiness, the father died, 
and to his son fell the enterprise. With five vessels, Sebas- 
tian set sail from Bristol in May, 1498, and reaching the 
American coast ascended as high as 67° north latitude, prob- 
ably passing into Hudson Bay. He determined to press on 
in a desire to find an open channel to India. His men became 
appalled at the dangers that beset navigation in those higher 
latitudes and mutinied, compelling him to retrace his course. 

There is a vague rumour that he had with him upon this 
voyage over a hundred emigrants, whom he landed in these 
high latitudes, and who all perished from cold, although the 
season was midsummer. However, he brought back to Eng- 
land three natives of the countries he had visited, and for 
his successful discoveries of more than eighteen hundred miles 
of our North American coast, the king rewarded him by con- 
ferring upon him the office of Grand Pilot of England. 

The interest and exertions of Sebastian Cabot did not 
abate, for this hero, extolled by contemporary writers for his 
character and courage, by his unflagging perseverance and 
indomitable will promoted the successful expeditions of 1553, 
for which he was appointed governor for life of the Muscovy 
Company. This company was established by the merchants 
of London for the purpose of extending commerce and trade 
in India and Cathay, and to find a northeast route that 
would expedite their enterprise. 



WILLOUGHBY AND CHANCELLOR 5 

Three ships were fitted out, and Cabot drew up instruc- 
tions which are curious reading at this day. The expedition 
was under Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor, and 
sailed May 20, 1553, "for the search and discovery of north- 
ern parts of the world, to open a way and passage to our 
men, for travel to new and unknown kingdoms." Cabot 
instructs these men to treat all natives "with gentleness and 
courtesy, without any disdain, laughing, or contempt." If 
they should be invited to dine with any lord or ruler, they 
should go armed and in a posture of defence. He tells them 
to beware of "persons armed with bows, who swim naked 
in various seas and harbours, desirous of the bodies of men 
which they covet for meat." 

Of Sir Hugh Willoughby, first in command of the Bona 
Speranza, it is recorded that he was tall and handsome and 
had proved a valiant soldier ; of Richard Chancellor, that 
he was beloved and genial and especially noted for "many 
good parts of wit." 

Thus on that bright morning in early May, these two com- 
manders with their loyal crew sailed down the Thames amid 
the firing of guns and cheers of the crowds assembled upon 
the river banks to wish them God-speed. It was understood 
between the commanders that should their vessels become 
separated, they should try to meet at Wardhuys, "a good 
port in Finmark." 

They proceeded northward and passed the northernmost 
cape of Europe in July. At night during a dense fog and 
storm, the two ships separated, the third and smallest kept 
with Willoughby, and the two brave commanders and their 
crews never met again. Proceeding northward some two 
hundred miles, reaching Nova Zembla, Willoughby was 
forced by the ice to return to a lower latitude. In September, 
1553, he harboured in the mouth of the river Arzina, in Lap- 
land. 



6 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

He wrote in his journal at this time: "Thus remaining 
in this haven the space of a weeke, seing the year farre spent, 
and also very evill wether, — as frost, snowe, and haile, as 
though it had been the deepe of winter, wee thought it best to 
winter there." 

In January, according to the record of Willoughby's jour- 
nal, all were living. In the spring Russian sailors, venturing 
in these high latitudes, were surprised to see two ships frozen 
in the ice. The relentless grip of the Arctic winter still held 
them fast; the hand of death in its most gruesome shape had 
reaped its harvest. Not a man survived. How brief the 
details, yet the imagination shudders at the agonies of their 
last days, — the cold, intense, congealing; the impenetrable, 
melancholy dark, and death, laying its icy fingers upon the 
despairing heart of each in turn and the "last Man," sur- 
rounded by the stark forms of his companions, wrestling 
alone with inexorable fate. 

Chancellor's vessel, the Bona Ventura, reached the Bay of 
St. Nicholas, and landed near Archangel, which was then but 
an isolated castle. He undertook a journey to Moscow, 
which resulted in successful arrangements for commercial 
enterprise, Russia at that time being almost as little known 
as the far east. Returning safely to England, he was warmly 
welcomed as having proved the practical utility of Arctic 
voyages. 

One of the companions of Chancellor on this voyage, 
Stephen Burrough, materially aided by Sebastian Cabot, 
then in his eighty-fourth year, set sail in 1556 from Grave- 
send, in a small pinnace named the Search-thrift. Before the 
departure, the ship and crew were visited by Cabot, and it 
is recorded of this farewell visit that "Master Cabot gave the 
poor most liberal almes, wishing them to pray for the good 
fortune and prosperous success of the Search-thrift ; and for 
very joy that he had to see towardness of our intended dis- 




Sir Hugh Willotjghby 



THE CORTEREALS 1 

covery, he entered into the dance among the rest of the young 
and lusty company ; which being ended he and his friends 
departed most gently, commending us to the governance of 
Almighty God." 

Burrough skirted the northern coast of Lapland to the 
eastward, discovering the strait leading to the Kara Sea, 
between Nova Zembla and Waigat. As a result of "the 
great and terrible abundance of ice that we saw with our 
eyes," Burrough explored no farther, but sailing into the 
White Sea wintered at Colomogro, returning home the follow- 
ing spring. 

As early as 1500 a Portuguese, Caspar Cortereal by name, 
endeavoured to reach Cathay by the Northwest Passage and 
reached between 50° and 60° north latitude. After making 
captive some fifty-seven natives, for the purpose of making 
them slaves, he returned to Lisbon, October 18, 1501. 

The following year he set sail again with two ships and is 
supposed to have reached Hudson Strait, where the vessels 
became separated. Caspar Cortereal and his crew were 
never heard of again. 

The other ship returned to Lisbon with the unfortunate 
tidings, and a brother, Miguel, set sail from Lisbon, in the 
spring of 1502, on a searching expedition. Upon reaching 
Hudson Strait the ships separated to explore the various in- 
lets and islands of the locality. Two of the ships reached the 
point of rendezvous, but the third, with Miguel Cortereal on 
board, never appeared. Thus the two brothers shared a like 
fate. 

A third brother, Vasco, petitioned the king to equip another 
expedition to send in search of the missing men, but this the 
king refused to do on the ground that the loss of two was 
greater than he could afford to sustain. No tidings were 
ever received that could throw any light upon the sad fate 
of the bold mariners. 



8 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

One of the most curious productions by geographers was 
a map published in 1558 by one Niccolo Zeno, a Venetian 
noble, whose ancestor of the same name had left with notes 
and journals a record of certain northern journeys made by 
him toward the end of the fourteenth century. He had en- 
tered as pilot the service of a mariner named Zichnmi, re- 
mained many years in his service, and, joined later by a brother 
called Antonio, spent some time in a country he named Fris- 
landa. Later both brothers found their way back to Venice- 
The young Niccolo, discovering the mutilated letters and maps 
of these brothers, proceeded to prepare a narrative and 
elaborate map which was considered a most valuable addi- 
tion to knowledge and continued to be an authority for 
more than a century. 

The names are very curious and confusing, but are sup- 
posed to be identified as follows : — 

Engronelant, Greenland ; Islanda, Iceland ; Estland, 
Shetland Islands ; Frisland, Faroe Isles ; Mackland, Nova 
Scotia ; Estotiland, Newfoundland ; Drogeo, coast of North 
America ; Icaria, coast of Kerry or Ireland. 

The three voyages of Frobisher undertaken between the 
years 1576-1578 were in a great measure financed by a rich 
and influential merchant named Michael Lok, whose passion 
for geographical research led him to encourage the young ex- 
plorer, who set out in the spring of 1576 in two small vessels, 
the Gabriel and Michael. The latter parted company in the 
Atlantic, and the Gabriel continued her voyage alone. Fro- 
bisher sighted land about July 20 and called it Queen Eliza- 
beth's Foreland. 

Continuing on his course, he entered the following day the 
strait that bears his name, calling the land "Meta Incognita." 
He made a landing and explored the land to some extent, 
returning to England with some bright yellow ore which 
aroused the enthusiasm of gold seekers and greatly assisted 



FHOBISHER — PET AND J AC KM AN 9 

him in expediting his other voyages. His primary aim of 
seeking for the Northwest Passage was all but forgotten in 
the excitement caused by the possible discovery of untold 
wealth. 

Queen Elizabeth issued instructions for his guidance upon 
future voyages: "Yf yt be possible," so states the official 
document, "you shall have some persons to winter in the 
straight, giving them instructions how they may observe 
the nature of the ayre and state of the countrie, and what 
time of the yeare the straight is most free from yce ; with who 
you shall leave a sufficient preparation of victualls and weap- 
ons, and also a pynnas, with a carpenter, and thyngs neces- 
sarie, so well as may be." 

The second journey, much better equipped than the first, 
brought Ihome, beside specimens of plants and stones, large 
quantities of the supposed gold ore. But though the dream 
of an El Dorado was never realized, and the ore was eventu- 
ally proved worthless, Frobisher's greatest victory to science 
was establishing the fact that there were two or more wide 
openings leading to the westward between latitude 60° and 
63° on the American coast. Of his personal character we 
note with interest that he was a brave, skilful leader of men, 
rough in bearing, but a strict disciplinarian, and carried 
through his designs with the enthusiasm of a true explorer. 

Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, commanding two ves- 
sels, set out in 1580 with instructions to sail through the 
strait leading between Nova Zembla and Waigat, and from 
thence eastward beyond the Obi River. They reached 
Wardhuys on the 23d of June. About two weeks later they 
approached Nova Zembla, but ice retarded their advance. 
They sighted Waigat on the 19th of July. While trying to 
push their way along its southern coast, they were embar- 
rassed by shallows and obliged to go round by the north. 
They forced their way between the shore and a low island 



10 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

only to be closed in by the ice, which stopped further prog- 
ress. The ships were widely separated, and could only com- 
municate with each other by the beating of drums or firing 
of muskets. Warping their ships as opportunity offered, they 
finally got in closer communication. Of the weather, they 
write at this time, " Winds we have had at will, but ice and 
fogs too much against our wills, if it had pleased the Lord 
otherwise." Surrounded by fields of ice, enveloped in fog, 
they were obliged to make fast to icebergs, where, " abiding 
the Lord's pleasure, they continued with patience." By 
the 13th of August the season was considered too far ad- 
vanced to penetrate farther. Pet had discovered a strait 
between the mainland and Waigat leading into the Kara 
Sea, and with this news he returned to England. Jackman 
wintered in a Norwegian port ; sailing home in the spring, 
his ship with all on board was lost at sea. 

The distinguished British naval commander, Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert, near relative of Sir Walter Raleigh and favourite of 
Queen Elizabeth, being ambitious to colonize Newfound- 
land, obtained in 1578 full power from the queen to under- 
take a voyage of discovery and settle such parts of North 
America "as no Christian prince or his subjects could claim 
from previous possession." His second voyage was under- 
taken in 1583, and with five ships under his command, he 
sailed out of Plymouth Sound, June 11. 

A contagious disease breaking out on one of the vessels, the 
property of Sir Walter Raleigh, and commanded by Captain 
Butler, it returned to England; the four remaining, the 
Delight, the Golden Hinde, the Swallow, and the Squirrel, 
sighted Newfoundland about June 30. Here they landed 
August 3, taking possession of the harbour of St. John's in 
the name of Queen Elizabeth. A miner, brought for the pur- 
pose of finding precious metals, should such exist in the 
newly discovered territory, claimed to locate a silver mine, 




'previa d (arnQm ; i^n^^^ijjus cffil 



Martin Frobisher 



SIB HUMPHREY GILBERT 11 

which news was greeted with much enthusiasm by the en- 
tire fleet. So many of the crew having become ill, Sir Hum- 
phrey found it advisable to send home the Swallow with the 
sick on board. He then embarked on the Squirrel, of only 
ten tons, the smallest ship of the fleet. 

Sailing out of the harbour of St. John's on August 20, he 
reached by the 27th latitude 44° with fair weather. Two 
days later a gale arose preceded by a dense fog. The Golden 
Hinde and Delight were beaten in among the rocks and 
shoals. The Golden Hinde signalled to stand out to sea, but 
the Delight did not heed this, and was shortly afterward 
wrecked upon a shoal, where her stern was quicklj^ beaten to 
pieces. A few of the crew escaped in a boat, but the cap- 
tain and a hundred men went down with the ship. The 
heroic Captain Browne, only recently transferred from the 
Swallow to the Golden Hinde, when urged to save himself, 
spurned the idea and stood bravely at his post rather than 
bear the reproach of having deserted his ship, though that 
ship, himself, and all hands left aboard were doomed to de- 
struction. The small boat into which a few had crowded, 
drifted about in the midst of the gale, which threatened every 
instant to swamp them. They were without food and suffered 
greatly from thirst. Fearing the overcrowded boat would 
founder unless materially lightened, a man named Headley 
suggested that lots be drawn; those drawing the four shortest 
should be thrown overboard. But one of their number, 
Richard Clarke, who had been master of the Delight, rose in 
the bow and answered sternly, "No, we will all live or die 
in company." 

Two more days passed with increased sufferings. They 
tried to appease the pangs of hunger with seaweed that 
floated on the surface of the waves, and they drank sea-water. 
On the fifth day the man Headley died and one other. All 
but Clarke were praying to God for death, rather than such 



12 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

continued agony. Clarke tried to encourage them by telling 
them they would surely reach land by the morrow, and if 
they did not make it by the seventh day, they might throw 
him overboard. The seventh day came at last, and by noon 
they sighted land, as Clarke had prophesied; in the after- 
noon they landed. They gave thanks to God, and after slak- 
ing their unbearable thirst with fresh water, the strong ones 
found some berries growing wild with which to feed the party. 
In several days they slowly regained their strength. 

Later they rowed along the coast, hoping to reach the 
bay of Newfoundland and met some Spanish whalers 
who frequented these waters. They satisfied their hunger 
by eating berries and peas, landing at intervals for the pur- 
pose. Before long they fell in with a Spanish ship; the 
captain took them to St. Jean de Luz in the Bay of Biscay. 
Landing near the French frontier, they travelled through 
France and reached England about the end of the year 1583. 

The loss of the Delight was a serious blow to Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert ; of the five ships with which he had started only the 
Golden Hinde and the Squirrel survived. The impenetrable 
fogs which at this juncture enveloped these ships were most 
disheartening to the crew, and already the provisions on 
board the Squirrel were running low. Officers and men 
besought Sir Humphrey to return, but reluctantly, with no 
abatement in his enthusiasm for adventure, he only con- 
sented to alter his course, upon their promise to embark with 
him again the following spring. On August 31 they turned 
their bows toward home. 

On the 2d of September, having hurt his foot and wishing it 
dressed by the surgeon, Sir Humphrey Gilbert boarded the 
Golden Hinde, and later repeated the visit to take part in an 
entertainment with the captain and crew. He mentioned the 
sorrow at the loss of the Delight, and of certain papers and ore 
that the Saxon miner had procured in Newfoundland. He 



DA VIS — BARENTZ 13 

was advised to remain aboard the Golden Hinde, the Squirrel 
being so encumbered with heavy artillery and other freight 
that she was not considered safe to face the storms so likely 
to occur in mid-ocean at that season of the year. After con- 
sideration, Sir Humphrey replied, — 

"I will not now desert my little vessel and crew, after we 
have encountered so many perils and storms together." 

Being supplied from the Hinde with some necessary pro- 
visions, Sir Humphrey returned to the Squirrel. 

On the 9th of September, in the latitude of England, the 
overburdened little craft of ten tons showed signs of found- 
ering. Sir Humphrey was seen by the Hinde sitting in the 
stern of his vessel with a book in his hand and was heard to 
call out, — 

"Courage, my lads ! we are as near heaven on sea as on 
land!" 

At midnight she sank with all on board. Thus termi- 
nated the first attempt to colonize the inhospitable shores 
of Newfoundland. 

Following closely upon the disastrous voyage of Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert came the three voyages of Davis between the 
years 1585 and 1588. He discovered the strait that bears 
his name, opened a way to Baffin Bay and the Polar Sea, 
and surveyed a considerable extent of the coast of Greenland. 

Between the years 1594 and 1596, William Barentz made 
three journeys to the Arctic, losing his life in the disasters 
and privations of the last voyage. In this third voyage, he 
made his way to the sea between Spitzbergen and Nova 
Zembla, where he writes, "We came to so great a heape of 
ice that we could not sayle through it." In August, .1596, 
they were surrounded by drifting ice which crushed around 
them with such alarming force as to make "all the haire of 
our heads to rise upright with feare." They made every 
effort to extricate themselves from their perilous position, 



14 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

but on the 11th of September "we saw that we could not 
get out of the icej but rather became faster, and could not 
loose our ship, as at other times we had done, as also that 
it began to be winter, so took counsell together what we were 
best to doe, according to the time, that we might winter, and 
attend such adventures as God would send us ; and after 
we had debated upon the matter (to keepe and defend our- 
selves both from the colde and wild beasts), we determined 
to build a house upon the land, to keepe us there in as well as 
wee could, and to commit ourselves unto the tuition of God." 

While searching for material wherewith to build their 
winter-quarters, they discovered a quantity of driftwood for 
which they thanked God for a special act of Providence, and 
"were much comforted, being in good hope that God would 
show us some further favour ; for that wood served us not 
only to build our house, but also to burne, and serve us all 
the winter long ; otherwise, without all doubt, we had died 
there miserably with extreme cold." 

In spite of the intense cold which made the building of 
their hut most laborious, there was open water an "arrow 
shot" beyond their ship. They dragged their stores on 
hand sleds, and by October their dwelling, closely thatched 
with sea rack to keep out as much cold as possible, was com- 
pleted, and "we setup our dyall and made the clock stride." 
On the 4th of November, "wee saw the sunne no more, for it 
was no longer above the horizon ; then our chirurgion made 
a bath (to bathe us in) of a wine-pipe, wherein wee entered 
one after another, and it did us much good, and was a great 
meanes of our health." 

Regulations were established, food was apportioned, and 
extra clothing distributed. Traps were set for foxes and 
other game, but soon the weather became so rigorous that for 
days they were snowed in and could not open their door. 
They were in darkness except for their fire, the smoke of 




r T-OS £ jJQS dues nunn <fcdux!& xn orfan^ 

Quo CHJi'-STy irn£~imi £ ar6a.ro. cc'cthjjde ^ 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert 



BAIiENTZ 15 

which became almost unendurable. Ice formed two inches 
thick in their berths, and their misery may be imagined 
better than described. 

On the 7th of December, they managed to secure some 
coal from their ship, and with it made a good fire which 
warmed them somewhat, though it nearly asphyxiated them. 
The cold becoming ever more intense and their supply of 
wood diminishing, their sufferings are noted repeatedly in 
their journal. 

"It was foule weather again, with an easterly wind and 
extreame cold, almost not to bee endured, where upon wee 
lookt pittifully one upon the other, being in great feare, that 
if the extreamitie of the cold grew to bee more and more, wee 
should all dye there with cold ; for that what fire soever wee 
made it would not warme us ; yea, and our sake, which is so 
hot, was frozen very hard, so that when we were every man 
to have his part, we were forced to melt it in the fire, which 
wee shared every second day about halfe a pint for a man, 
where with we were forced to sustayne ourselves ; and at 
other times we dranke water, which agreed not well with the 
cold, and we needed not to coole it with snow or ice ; but 
we were forced to melt it out of the snow." 

They were often awed by the great volumes of sound, 
"like the bursting asunder of mountains and the dashing 
them to atoms." About the middle of January, they were 
forced, under great difficulties, to secure more wood, and, 
making another trip to the vessel, they found much ice accu- 
mulated within, and returned to their hut with a fox caught 
in the ship's cabin, which provided them with fresh meat. 

On Twelfth Night they made a heroic effort to make merry. 
They drew lots for the honour of being king of Nova Zembla, 
and the gunner was royally installed. Imagining themselves 
back in Holland, they drank to the three kings of Cologne, 
soaking biscuit in the wine that for days they had set aside 



16 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

out of their scant store to celebrate this " great feast." But 
the intense cold and storms that soon followed excluded every 
other idea, and for days they were shut in, trying to bring 
warmth to their frozen bodies with hot stones, but while 
sitting before the fire, their backs would be white with frost, 
while their stockings would be burned before they could feel 
heat to their feet. 

Their stock of provisions was becoming exhausted, and 
although they had seen traces of bears and heard the foxes 
running over their heads, they could not secure any. 

On January 24, Gerard de Veer, Jacob Keemsdirk, and a 
third companion, upon making their way to the seaside 
toward the north, saw the sun above the horizon for the first 
time. Not having expected this event for fourteen days 
later, Barentz was doubtful of their accuracy. On the 26th, 
one of their number who had long been ill died, and they dug 
a grave seven feet in the snow, "after that we had read cer- 
taine chapters and sung some psalmes, we all went out and 
buried the man." 

As daylight increased, they left their hut for short periods 
of exercise. 

By May their impatience to leave this desolate spot 
prompted them to make preparations for departure, and 
without waiting to see if their ship would be navigable when 
once released from the ice, they repaired their two boats 
and awaited the first opportunity "to get out of that wilde, 
desart, irkesome, fearfull, and cold countrey." 

On the 13th of June, the twelve survivors left the miserable 
shelter that had been their home for ten months, and took 
to the open boats. Their sufferings and privations cannot 
be described ; three of their number succumbed, and Ba- 
rentz himself became too ill for service. 

As they passed Icy Cape, a headland of Alaska, latitude 
70° 20' N., longitude 161° 46' W., Barentz asked to be lifted 



BARENTZ 17 

up to see it once more, and the dying man's eyes rested with 
pleasure upon its cheerless coast. 

On the twentieth day of June, Barentz was told that a man 
in the other boat named Claes Andriz was near death. He 
remarked he would not long survive his comrade. He was 
examining at the moment a chart of the countries and ob- 
jects they had seen on their voyage. He turned to Gerard 
de Veer, who had made this chart, and asked him for some- 
thing to drink. Hardly had he swallowed the liquid when 
he suddenly expired. Saddened and disheartened, the rem- 
nant of this unfortunate expedition struggled on until Sep- 
tember, when they reached the coast of Lapland. 

After a voyage of eleven hundred and forty-three miles, 
these heroes of the north left their boats in the "Merchant's 
house" at Coola as "a sign and token of their deliverance." 
A Dutch ship carried them to Holland, where they appeared 
before the curious crowds of Amsterdam in the costume they 
had worn in Nova Zembla. They were honoured by their 
countrymen and made/ to repeat their wonderful adventures 
before the ministers of the Hague. 

To the early maps of the period at the close of the sixteenth 
century, Newfoundland and adjacent coast line had been 
added by the Cabots, who had reached as far as 67° north 
latitude, Frobisher Strait, an outline of the lands that he 
had visited, Davis Strait, and a portion of Greenland's east 
coast. But, more important than the discovery of new terri- 
tory was the stimulus to Arctic enterprise, which through 
Richard Chancellor had established valuable trading activi- 
ties between England and far-distant Russia. The journeys 
of the Cotereals had opened a way to Spanish and Portu- 
guese fisheries off the banks of Newfoundland, and Frobisher's 
supposed discovery of gold in distant lands had given zest 
to discovery in the New World by the English, exemplified by 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert's daring but unsuccessful attempt to 
colonize Newfoundland. 



CHAPTER II 

Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries : Hudson. — Baffin. — Desh- 
neff. — Behring. — Schalaroff. — Tchitschagof. — Anjou and Von 
Wrangell. — Phipps. 

No century has produced a more daring or renowned 
mariner than Henry Hudson, or one whose melancholy fate 
has provoked more pity. Down through the decades the 
story of his adventures has been told and retold at the fireside 
of the old to the eager ears and quickening imagination of the 
young. 

Talented, indefatigable, fearless, his achievements, in the 
infancy of Arctic exploration, handicapped by the lack of all 
that invention and science has secured to modern explorers, 
place him in the first rank, with the greatest navigators the 
world has known. As early as 1607 he had distinguished 
himself by pushing as far north as latitude 81 3^°, in his effort 
to follow the instructions of the Muscovy Company to pene- 
trate to the Pole. Attempting the Northeast Passage in 1608, 
he saw North Cape on the 3d of June ; pushing to the east- 
ward on parallels 74° and 75°, he skirted Nova Zembla, but 
found it impossible to penetrate higher than 72° 25'. 

The next year the Dutch sent him to try this passage 
again, though the previous voyage had convinced him that 
the Northeast Passage was impractical. 

He passed Warhuys, returning past North Cape, pushing 
his way to the American coast, where he searched for a pas- 
sage, and, sailing into New York harbour, discovered the mag- 
nificent river which bears his name. This splendid achieve- 
ment only stirred his ambitions further, and under the patron- 

18 



HUDSON 19 

age of Sir John Wolstenholme, Sir Dudley Digges, and other 
distinguished men, a vessel of fifty-five tons was fitted out 
and provisioned for six months. 

Under the command of Hudson, the Discovery set sail 
April 17, 1610. Touching at Orkney and Faro islands, they 
sighted the southeastern part of Iceland, May 11. Later 
they reached the Vestmanna Isles, and saw Mount Hecla in 
eruption. On June 4, Hudson writes, "This day, we saw 
Greenland perfectly over the ice ; and this night the sun went 
down due north, and rose north-north-east, so plying the fifth 
day we were in 65°." 

Taking their course northwest, they passed Cape Deso- 
lation. A school of whales was sighted at this juncture, and 
later icebergs were encountered. In June they saw Resolu- 
tion Island ; going to the south of this island, they were 
carried by the current northwest, until they struck shore ice, 
from which it was most tlifficult to extricate themselves. 

At this time a growing discontent among the men first 
appeared on board ; some were for returning before the perils 
of the journey should become greater, others were for con- 
tinuing. Hudson showed them a chart showing that they 
had sailed two hundred leagues farther than any Englishmen 
had sailed before. The situation of the ship, at times em- 
bedded in ice, at others pushing her way through leads of 
open water, was critical and discouraging, but Henry Hudson 
continued his intricate navigation, finally being rewarded by 
finding himself in a clear, open sea. Sighting three head- 
lands, he called them Prince Henry Cape, King James, 
and Queen Anne, and, continuing, he saw a hill which he 
called Mount Charles, and later sighted Cape Salisbury. 
While exploring the south shore, he discovered an island, 
one point of which he named Deepe Cape, the other, 
Wolstenholme. He entered a bay, which, from the date, 
he called Michaelmas Bay. 



20 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The season was advancing; already the days were very 
short and the nights long and cold. Realizing it was time to 
find shelter for the winter, he cast about to discover a suitable 
location. By the first of November he had the vessel hauled 
aground, and ten days later it was frozen in. The stock of 
provisions was very low, but the men supplemented it by 
killing or trapping anything that was serviceable for food, 
and after game left them in the spring, they lived on such 
birds as they could secure ; when these, too, migrated, they 
ate moss, frogs, and buds. 

With the breaking up of the ice in the spring, preparations 
were made for returning home. 

In Hudson's own bay, in the cold embrace of the shores he 
had explored, Henry Hudson divided the last remnants of 
food equally among his men. They were a famished, de- 
spairing crew, maddened with suffering. The cry for bread 
was in their vitals, and there was no bread. Hunger and 
misery made their brains reel, robbed them of their godli- 
ness, and reduced them to wild animals at bay. It took but 
the encouragement of one of their number, Green by name, to 
incite them to mutiny. 

On June 21, "The ship's company, both sick and well, 
were in berths, dispersed generally two and two about the 
ship. King, one of the crew who was supposed to be friendly 
to Hudson, was up, and in the morning they secured him in the 
hold by fastening down the hatches. Green then went and 
held the carpenter in conversation to amuse him, while two 
of the crew, keeping just before Hudson, and one, named 
Wilson, behind him, bound his hands. He asked what they 
were about, and they told him he should know when he was in 
the shallop. Another mutineer, Juet, went down to King 
in the hold, who kept him at bay, being armed with his sword. 
He came upon deck to Hudson, whom he found with his 
hands tied. Hudson was heard to call to the carpenter, and 




From the painting by Collier 
The Death of Henry Hudson 



BxXFFIN — BEHRING 21 

tell him he was bound. Two of the devoted party, who were 
sick, told the mutineers their knavery would be punished. 
They paid no attention ; the shallop was hauled up to the 
side of the vessel, and the sick and lame were made to get into 
it. The carpenter, whom they had agreed to retain in- the 
vessel, asked them if they would not be hanged when they 
reached England, and boldly refused to remain with them, 
preferring to share the fate of Hudson and the sick men." 

The crew then set sail, and the boat in which were Hudson 
and his companions was never seen again. After many hard- 
ships and vicissitudes and much loss of life through the 
onslaught of the natives, where they landed to secure food, a 
remnant of the unfortunate crew found their way past the 
Cape of God's Mercies and thence to Cape Desolation in 
Greenland. Pursuing their homeward course, they were re- 
duced to the last extremities by hunger, one-half a fowl fried 
in tallow per man being their only sustenance each twenty- 
four hours. 

Just before their last bird was devoured, they sighted the 
north of Ireland, where they landed, and later made their 
way to Plymouth. 

Following the example of Hudson, and with the purpose of 
further discovery, Baffin set sail in 1616 and explored the 
vast bay eight hundred miles long and three hundred miles 
wide that bears his name. He saw Lancaster Sound and 
brought home observations and reports of latitude and 
longitude, the accuracy of which was doubted for many 
years, but has since been verified and accredited to him. 

Equally tragic with the fate of Henry Hudson was the 
last voyage of that great Russian commander, Behring, 
whose life was one long record of heroic achievement. He 
had seen many parts of the world while serving under Peter 
the Great, by whom he was given the commission of lieu- 
tenant in 1707, and captain-lieutenant in 1710. In a pre- 



22 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

vious voyage he had explored the straits which bear his 
name. These straits had been navigated nearly a century 
before by Deshneff, one of the early Russian explorers who 
made several voyages between 1646 and 1648. His great 
object was to round to the mouth of the Anadry River, 
and there form a traders' settlement. Deshneff and his 
companions were the first navigators to sail from the Arctic 
Sea to the Pacific, and proved, at a much earlier period than 
is generally supposed, that the continents of America and 
Asia are not united. 

Behring set sail June 4, 1741, with two vessels from Kamts- 
chatka in the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul. Steering 
eastward toward the American continent, he sighted land the 
18th of July, in latitude 58° 28' and 50° longitude, from 
Anatsda. Captain Tschirikov, who commanded this second 
boat, had seen the land a few days previously and, having 
determined to send some men ashore for investigation, the 
shallop and long-boat were manned with seventeen of the 
crew for this purpose. They never returned to the ship. 
Such a grave disaster determined Behring to send this 
vessel back to Kamtschatka. 

He proceeded on his voyage alone, hoping to reach as 
high latitude as 60°, but progress was slow, owing to the varied 
coast-line and the labyrinth of islands which border this 
vicinity. They fell in with a few natives, who had been on 
a fishing expedition, with whom they held some friendly 
intercourse. Progress continued to be retarded by calms 
and currents, and finally dirty weather set in early in Sep- 
tember and raged in a violent storm for seventeen days. 

The scurvy now attacked the crew, and numerous deaths 
occurred. Behring determined to return to Kamtschatka. 
Through an unfortunate blunder, they erred in their course, 
and land remained invisible. The approach of winter 
became alarming, the cold increased, and rain turned to ice 



BEHRING 23 

and snow. The unfortunate crew were in a pitiable condi- 
tion from the miserable disease that laid hold of them. The 
steersman had to be supported at the wheel by two other sick 
men that he might continue at his post of duty. Finally 
he was disabled, and men hardly more fit took his place 
one by one. Almost daily some one died, and the ship, no 
longer with enough hands to man her, was at the mercy of 
the elements. The nights became long and dark, the water 
supply was running low, and certain destruction and death 
awaited the remnant of human beings left on board, unless 
a harbour of refuge could be found. 

At last one morning land was sighted. The approach was 
difficult, the ship so crippled as to be almost unmanageable, 
and the rocks threatened instant destruction. Darkness 
came on before they could make a landing. In their attempt 
to anchor, two cables parted, and the anchors were lost ; 
they had no third anchor in readiness. 

At this juncture it seemed as if the hand of Providence 
intervened, for a huge wave lifted them across a sand bar, 
between a narrow opening of high rocks, and they found 
themselves in calm water, where the next day they made 
a successful landing. The land proved a barren and treeless 
island, fortunately well supplied with game, but there was 
no hut or shelter of any kind, showing it to be uninhabited. 
Such of the crew as were able made shelters under projecting 
sand-banks, using sail-cloth to keep out the wind and cold, 
and there they brought their sick and dying comrades. But 
the shock to some of the sickest proved fatal, and, before 
their dead bodies could be interred, foxes attacked and 
devoured portions of the hands and feet. 

A special shelter was made for the brave old captain, now 
reduced to the last extremities of disease, his body emaciated, 
his mind enfeebled. He was moved November 9, and there 
he lay dying, passing the weary hours in the vagaries of 



24 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

delirium, by covering his shrunken form with sand, making 
his own grave, as it were, until, on December 8, 1741, he passed 
away. There he rests, Behring Island his sepulchre, and his 
name is upon every map of the world, showing the straits 
dividing North America and Asia, through which he sailed 
in the glory of his prime. 

The command was now under Waxall, who rallied his men 
to superhuman effort, that they might pass the weary winter 
and attempt making their escape in the spring. A frightful 
blow to their hopes was the wrecking of their vessel and a loss 
of valuable food supplies, which took place the 29th of De- 
cember. 

By March, 1742, the forty-five survivors (thirty of their 
number having perished) were confronted by the problem of 
how to make their escape when the ice should permit. Their 
boat was a total wreck, and their only hope lay in con- 
structing from the debris a craft that would be sufficiently 
trustworthy to carry them to civilization. At Waxall's sug- 
gestion, they took the old vessel to pieces, and one Sawa 
Slaradoubzov, a native of Siberia, who had worked in the 
shipyard at Okhotsk, offered to construct the new craft. 

Early in May the ship was startf \ It was forty feet 
long and thirteen broad, one masted, a small cabin in the poop 
and a galley in the fore part of the vessel. A second small 
boat was also made. 

On the 10th of August it was launched and christened the 
St. Peter. During a few days' calm that followed, the rudder, 
sails, and ballast were adjusted. Provisions and such 'furs 
as they had collected were put aboard, and they set sail on the 
16th. Although Slaradoubzov had never been a carpenter, 
his craft proved seaworthy and breasted a gale in fine shape. 

They sighted Kamtschatka, August 25, entered the Bay of 
Awatska the next day, and made port at Petropalovski, 
August 27. It is pleasant to note that the Russian govern- 



ANJOU AND VON W RANG ELL 25 

ment conferred the lowest rank of nobility upon Sawa Slara- 
doubzov, that of Sinboiarskoy. 

The Russians have been untiring in their endeavour to dis- 
cover a passage eastward to the north of Cape Taimner and 
Cape Chelagskoi. In 1760, Schalaroff attempted to force the 
passage that had proved so disastrous to Behring ; in spite of 
mutiny and hardship, he renewed his attempt three times, 
but was finally wrecked about seventy miles east of Cape 
Chelagskoi, where he and his crew perished miserably from 
starvation. 

Admiral Tchitschagof endeavoured to force a passage round 
Spitsbergen in the year 1764, but in spite of courage and 
perseverance, his expedition was unsuccessful. Later Cap- 
tain Billings in 1787 made two attempts, both of which were 
unsuccessful. 

Many years later, 1820 to 1823, Lieutenant Anjou and 
Admiral Von Wrangell made a series of remarkable sledge 
journeys starting from the mouth of the Kolyma River. On 
the fourth journey, March, 1823, Von Wrangell reached 
latitude 70° 51', longitude 175° 27' W., one hundred and five 
versts in a direct line from the mainland over a frozen sea. 
Several times the ps>rty came near losing their lives by 
breaking thiough the ice. After reaching this high lati- 
tude and recognizing signs of open water to the north, Von 
Wrangell writes : — 

"Notwithstanding this sure token of the impossibility of 
proceeding much further, we continued to go due north for 
about nine versts, when we arrived at the edge of an immense 
break in the ice, extending east and west further than the 
eye could reach, and which at the narrowest part was more 
than a hundred fathoms across. . . . We climbed one of the 
loftiest ice hills, where we obtained an extensive view towards 
the north, and whence we beheld the wide, immeasurable 
ocean spread before our gaze. It was a fearful and magnifi- 



26 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

cent, but to us a melancholy, spectacle. Fragments of ice of 
enormous size floated on the surface of the agitated ocean, 
and were thrown by the waves with awful violence against 
the edge of the ice-field on the further side of the channel 
before us. The collisions were so tremendous, that large 
masses were every instant broken away, and it was evident 
that the portion of ice which still divided the channel from 
the open ocean would soon be completely destroyed. Had 
we attempted to have ferried ourselves across upon one of 
the floating pieces of ice, we should not have found firm 
footing upon our arrival. Even on our side, fresh lanes of 
water were continually forming, and extending in every 
direction in the field of ice behind us. With a painful feel- 
ing of the impossibility of overcoming the obstacles which 
Nature opposed to us, our last hope vanished of discovering 
the land which we yet believed to exist." 

Of the difficulties that confronted them upon their return, 
Admiral Von Wrangell writes : — 

"We had hardly proceeded one verst when we found our- 
selves in a fresh labyrinth of lanes of water, which hemmed 
us in on every side. As all the floating pieces around us were 
smaller than the one on which we stood, which was seventy- 
five fathoms across, and as we saw many certain indications 
of an approaching storm, I thought it better to remain on 
the. larger mass, which offered us somewhat more security, 
and thus we waited quietly whatever Providence should 
decree. Dark clouds now rose from the west, and the whole 
atmosphere became filled with a damp vapor. A strong 
breeze suddenly sprang up from the west, and increased in 
less than half an hour to a storm. Every moment huge 
masses of ice around us were dashed against each other, and 
broken into a thousand fragments. Our little party remained 
fast on our ice island, which was tossed to and fro by the 
waves. We gazed in most painful inactivity on the wild 



phipps 27 

conflict of the elements, expecting every moment to be swal- 
lowed up. We had been three long hours in this position, 
and still the mass of ice beneath us held together, when sud- 
denly it was caught by the storm, and hurled against a large 
field of ice. The crash was terrific, and the mass beneath us 
was shattered into fragments. At that dreadful moment, 
when escape seemed impossible, the impulse of self-preserva- 
tion implanted in every living being saved us. Instinctively 
we all sprang at once on the sledges, and urged the dogs to 
their full speed. They flew across the yielding fragments 
to the field on which we had been stranded, and safely 
reached a part of it of firmer character, on which were several 
hummocks, and where the dogs immediately ceased running, 
conscious, apparently, thdt the danger was past. We were 
saved : we joyfully embraced each other, and united in 
thanks to God for our preservation from such imminent peril." 

The primary object of the Phipps expedition sent out by 
the Royal Society of England, under the solicitation of the 
government and all scientific men of the time, was to reach 
the Magnetic Pole and solve, if possible, the causes of the 
variation of the compass and other scientific problems. 
With two vessels, the Racehorse and the Carcase, Captain 
Phipps set out in 1773 and skirted the eastern shore of Spitz- 
bergen to 80° 48' north latitude. Here he was beset with ice 
and could proceed no farther. Accompanying this expedi- 
tion was young Nelson, later the hero of Trafalgar. An anec- 
dote of Nelson showing his courage and daring on this 
trip is told as follows : — 

"While out in small boats one of the officers had wounded 
a walrus. . . . The wounded animal dived immediately, 
and brought up a number of its companions ; and they 
joined in an attack on the boat. They wrested an oar from 
one of the men, and it was with the utmost difficulty that 
the crew could prevent them from staving or upsetting her, 



28 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

till Nelson came up ; and the walruses, finding their enemies 
thus reenforced, dispersed. Young Nelson exposed him- 
self in a most daring manner." 

The unfortunate situation of his vessels forced Phipps to 
retrace his course and return to England. 

Under instructions to attempt the passage of Ice Sea, from 
Behring Strait to Baffin Bay, the ill-fated Cook sailed in 
1776, but failed to sail beyond Icy Cape, where he found 
impenetrable ice ; however, he reached as far as North Cape 
on the coast of Asia. 

Mackenzie, the last of the eighteenth-century explorers, left 
Fort Chipewyan, and descended the Mackenzie River, a much 
larger stream than the Coppermine previously discovered by 
Hearne. He followed the course of the river until he reached 
an island "where the tide rose and fell," but there is no cer- 
tainty that he reached the ocean. The land expeditions 
were for geographical discovery and not for the discovery 
of the Northwest Passage, that had occupied mariners for 
so many years. 




■2 § 



■ ***** 




CHAPTER III 

Early nineteenth century: Ross and Parry, May 3, 1818. — Object 
of voyage,, search for Northwest Passage through Davis Strait 
and explore bays and channels described by Baffin. — Met natives 
near Melville Bay. — The discovery by Ross of the famous Crim- 
son Cliffs. — Enters Lancaster Sound. — Advance barred by im- 
aginary Crocker Mountains. — Return of expedition to England. 
— Buchan and Franklin North Polar expedition via Greenland and 
Spitzbergen. — Dorothea and Trent in Magdalena Bay, June 3, 
1818. — Reached high latitude of 80° 37' N. — Course directed 
to east coast of Greenland. — Disastrous battle with the ice. — 
Dorothea disabled. — Hasty return to England. 

As a result of the many disastrous voyages to the Arctic, 
there was a long period of inactivity in polar research, which 
continued for the first sixteen years of the nineteenth century. 
Interest was revived, however, by the astounding report 
that ice which had cut off the Danish colonies from communi- 
cation with their native country for centuries, had suddenly 
become free, and that certain Greenland whalers had sailed 
to the seventieth and eightieth parallel. 

The British Admiralty in conjunction with the Council of 
the Royal Society decided to fit out two expeditions: One 
under Captain John Ross and Lieutenant Edward Parry, 
whose object was to force a northwest passage through Davis 
Strait and to explore the bays and channels described by 
Baffin at the head of the immense bay that bears his name. 
The second expedition under Buchan and Franklin was to 
direct its course by way of Greenland and Spitzbergen 
in search of the Pole, and make its way through Behring 
Strait out to the Pacific. 

29 



30 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

The four ships were the best equipped for Arctic research 
that had ever been sent out from England, and the command- 
ers were instructed to collect all possible information that 
would promote scientific knowledge in natural history, geol- 
ogy, meteorology, and astronomy as to the special phenomena 
existing in high northern latitudes. 

On the 3d of May, 1818, the two expeditions parted 
company in Brassa Sound, Shetland, and sailed for their 
respective destinations. The Isabella and Alexander, under 
the command of Ross and Parry, reached Wygat Sound on 
the 17th of June, where they were detained by the ice in 
company with forty-five whalers, until the 20th. They made 
observations from the shore of Wygat Island, which they 
found to be misplaced on the maps by no less than five de- 
grees. 

By warping and towing they made slow progress, narrowly 
missing destruction by the pressure of huge ice-floes, but 
finally making the open water. High mountains were de- 
scried on the north side of this bay called by Ross, Mel- 
ville Bay, the precipices varying in height from one thousand 
to two thousand feet. 

An Eskimo, John Sacheuse, who acted as interpreter to 
the expedition, went ashore and brought back with him a 
dozen or more natives, who were much entertained by the 
hospitality provided for them by the ship's company. After 
partaking of tea and biscuits, a dance was held on the deck, 
and of this Captain Ross gives an amusing description : : — 

"Sacheuse's mirth and joy exceeded all bounds : and with 
a good-humored omciousness, justified by the important 
distinction which his superior knowledge now gave him, he 
performed the office of master of ceremonies. An Eskimo 
M.C. to a ball on the deck of one of H. M. Ships in the icy 
seas of Greenland, was an office somewhat new, but Nash 
himself could not have performed his functions in a manner 



ROSS AND PARRY 31 

more appropriate. It did not belong even to Nash to com- 
bine in his own person, like Jack, the discordant qualifications 
of seaman, interpreter, draughtsman, and master of cere- 
monies to a ball, with those of an active fisher of seals and a 
hunter of white bears. A daughter of the Danish resident, 
(by an Eskimo woman,) about eighteen years of age, and 
by far the best looking of the half-caste group, was the ob- 
ject of Jack's particular attentions ; which being observed 
by one of our officers, he gave him a lady's shawl, ornamented 
with spangles, as an offering for her acceptance. He pre- 
sented it in a most respectful and not ungraceful manner to 
the damsel, who bashfully took a pewter ring from her finger 
and gave it to him in return,, rewarding him, at the same time, 
with an eloquent smile, which could leave no doubt on our 
Eskimo's mind that he had made an impression on her 
heart." 

Near Cape Dudley Digges a curious condition of the ice 
was noted by Captain Ross as follows : — 

"We have discovered that the snow on the face of the 
cliffs presents an appearance both novel and interesting, 
being apparently stained or covered by some substance which 
gave it a deep crimson color. This snow was penetrated in 
many places to a depth of ten or twelve feet by the coloring 
matter." 

Passing Smith and Jones Sound, Ross reached the en- 
trance of Lancaster Sound by the last of August. "On the 
31st," he writes, "we discovered, for the first time, that the 
land extended from the south two-thirds across this apparent 
Strait, obscured its real figure. During the day much interest 
was excited on board by the appearance of the Strait. The 
general opinion, however, was that it was only an inlet. The 
land was partially seen extending across ; the yellow sky 
was perceptible. At a little before four o'clock a.m., the land 
was seen at the bottom of the inlet by the officers of the watch, 



32 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

but before I got on deck a space of about seven degrees of the 
compass was obscured by the fog. The land which I then saw 
was a high ridge of mountains extending directly across the 
bottom of the inlet. This chain appeared extremely high in 
the centre. Although a passage in this direction appeared 
hopeless, I determined to explore it completely. I therefore 
continued all sail. Mr. Beverly, the surgeon, who was the 
most sanguine, went up to the crow's nest, and at twelve 
reported to me that before it became thick he had seen the 
land across the bay, except for a very short space. At three, I 
went on deck ; it completely cleared for ten minutes, when 
I distinctly saw land around the bottom of the bay, forming 
a chain of mountains connected with those, which extended 
along the north and south side. This land appeared to be 
at the distance of eight leagues, and Mr. Lewis, the master, 
and James Haig, leading man, being sent for, they took its 
bearings, which were inserted in the log. At this moment 
I also saw a continuity of ice at the distance of seven miles, 
extending from one side of the bay to the other, between the 
nearest cape to the north, which I named after Sir George 
Warrenden, and that to the south, which was named after Vis- 
count Castlereagh. The mountains, which occupied the 
centre, in a north and south direction, were named Crocker's 
Mountains, after the Secretary to the Admiralty." 

The much-disputed "Crocker Mountains" brought the 

navigator ridicule and discredit upon his return to England. 

The return was decided upon on October 1, that date being 

the limit to which his instructions permitted Captain Ross 

. to remain in northern latitudes. 

Although the extraordinary blunder cost Captain Ross 
reputation and the confidence of his friends, he had never- 
theless rendered valuable addition to Arctic knowledge; his 
scientific observations had been unremitting and accurate. 
He had mapped the west coast of Davis Strait, had advanced 




Captain John Ross, R.N. 



BOSS AND PARBY 33 

through Baffin Bay, thereby proving the claims of that fa- 
mous old mariner, and had been the first to meet the Eskimos 
of the far north, who were to render such valuable assist- 
ance to future explorers. 

The progress of the Dorothea and the Trent under the re- 
spective commands of Captain David Buchan and Lieu- 
tenant-Commander John Franklin (later Sir John Franklin) 
was delayed by fog and storm until they sighted Cherie Island, 
latitude 74° 33' N., and longitude 17° 40' E., famous for its 
herds of walruses from which the Muscovy Company had 
derived much profit by sending ships to the island for oil, the 
crew capturing as many as a thousand animals in the course 
of six or seven hours. 

The ships now encountered small floes and huge masses of 
ice, which augmented the difficulties of progress, and this 
Lieutenant Beechey, the clever artist and interesting nar- 
rator of the voyage, describes as follows : — 

" There was, besides, on the occasion an additional motive 
for remaining up ; very few of us had ever seen the sun at 
midnight, and this night happening to be particularly dis- 
torted by refraction, and sweeping majestically along the 
northern horizon, it was the object of imposing grandeur, 
which riveted to the deck some of our crew, who would per- 
haps have beheld with indifference the less imposing effect of 
the icebergs ; or it might have been a combination of both 
these phenomena ; for it cannot be denied that the novelty oc- 
casioned by the floating masses was materially heightened by 
the singular effect produced by the very low altitude at which 
the sun cast his fiery beams over the icy surface of the sea. 

"The rays were too oblique to illuminate more than the 
inequalities of the floes, and falling thus partially on the 
grotesque shapes, either really assumed by the ice or dis- 
torted by the unequal refraction of the atmosphere, so be- 
trayed the imagination that it required no great exertion of 



34 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

fancy to trace in various directions architectural edifices, 
grottos, and caves here and there glittering as if with pre- 
cious metals. So generally, indeed, was the deception ad- 
mitted, that, in directing the route of the vessel from aloft, 
we for a while deviated from our nautical phraseology, and 
shaped our course for a church, a tower, a bridge, or some 
similar structure, instead of for humps of ice, which were 
usually designated by less elegant appellations. 

"After sighting the southern promontory of Spitzbergen, 
the two ships were parted in a severe gale. The snow fell 
in heavy showers, and several tons' weight of ice accumu- 
lated about the sides of the brig (the Trent) and formed a 
complete casing to the planks, which secured an additional 
layer at each plunge of the vessel. So great, indeed, was the 
accumulation about the bows, that we were obliged to cut 
it away repeatedly with axes to relieve the bow-sprit from 
the enormous weight that was attached to it, and the ropes 
were so thickly covered with ice, that it was necessary to beat 
them with large sticks to keep them in a state of readiness 
for any evolution that might be rendered necessary, either 
by the appearance of ice, to leeward or by a change of wind." 

By the 3d of June the ships were reunited in Magdalena 
Bay. Surrounding this harbour of refuge are high moun- 
tains rising precipitously about three thousand feet high, 
.the deep valleys filled with immense beds of snow. The 
temperature is particularly mild on the western coast of 
Spitzbergen, and in consequence there is a luxury of Alpine 
plants, grasses, and lichens, also of animal life, reindeer, 
and flocks of birds, such as the auk, willock, gulls, cormorants, 
also walruses and seals. 

There are numerous glaciers from which huge pieces would 
occasionally break away. Mr. Beechey describes in a most 
interesting way the fall of one of these extraordinary masses 
of ice : — 



BUCIIAN AND FRANKLIN 35 

"The first was occasioned by the discharge of a musket at 
about half a mile's distance from the glacier. Immediately 
after the report of the gun, a noise resembling thunder was 
heard in the direction of the iceberg (glacier) and in a few 
seconds more an immense piece broke away, and fell head- 
long into the sea. The crew of the launch, supposing them- 
selves beyond the reach of its influence, quietly looked upon 
the scene, when presently a sea arose and rolled toward the 
shore with such rapidity, that the crew had not time to take 
any precautions, and the boat was in consequence washed 
upon the beach, and completely filled by the succeeding wave. 
As soon as their astonishment had subsided, they examined 
the boat, and found her so badly stove that it became neces- 
sary to repair her in order to return to the ship. They had 
also the curiosity to measure the distance the boat had been 
carried by the wave, and found it to be ninety-six feet." 

Describing a second avalanche he writes : — 

"This occurred on a remarkably fine day, when the quiet- 
ness of the bay was first interrupted by the noise of the fall- 
ing body. Lieutenant Franklin and myself had approached 
one of these stupendous walls of ice, and were endeavoring 
to search into the innermost recess of a deep cavern that was 
near the foot of the glacier, when we heard a report as if of 
a cannon, and, turning to the quarter whence it proceeded, 
we perceived an immense piece of the front of the berg slid- 
ing down from the height of two hundred feet at least into 
the sea, and dispersing the water in every direction, accom- 
panied by a loud, grinding noise, and followed by a quantity 
of water which being previously lodged in the fissures now 
made its escape in numberless small cataracts over the front 
of the glacier." 

So great was the disturbance of the waters by this great 
falling mass that the Dorothea was seen to be careening at 
a distance of four miles. After it became somewhat settled, 



36 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

they approached it and found it to be nearly a quarter of a 
mile in circumference. ''Knowing its specific gravity and 
making fair allowance for its inequalities, its weight was com- 
puted at 421,660 tons." 

The ships left Magdalena Bay, June 7, and made their slow 
way through brash ice which became thicker and more im- 
penetrable until a fortunate breeze dispersed it. Sailing in a 
westerly direction, they encountered several whale-ships, which 
reported others beset by the ice in that direction. Captain 
Buchan changed his course and stood to the northward, pass- 
ing Cloven Cliff, an isolated rock, marking the northwestern 
boundary of Spitzbergen. Near Red Bay they were stopped 
by the ice, and the channel by which the vessels had entered 
became entirely closed. The ships were here hemmed in, in 
almost the same position where Baffin, Hudson, Poole, Cap- 
tain Phipps, and all the early voyagers to this quarter 
had been stopped. Of their perilous situation, Lieutenant 
Beechey writes : — 

"The ice soon began to press heavily upon us, and, to add 
to our difficulties, we found the water so shallow that the 
rocks were plainly discovered under the bottoms of the ships. 
It was impossible, however, by any exertion on our part, to 
improve the situation of the vessels. They were as firmly 
fixed in the ice as if they had formed part of the pack, and 
we could only hope that the current would not drift them into 
still shallower water, and damage them against the ground." 

It was now found necessary to attach the ships to floes by 
ice-anchors, which was done with considerable exertion. 

Taking advantage of a break in the ice, they reached Vogel 
Sang about June 28, where the crew were fortunate enough 
to secure forty reindeer and plenty of eider-ducks. 

On the 6th of July, Captain Buchan, finding the ice con- 
ditions favourable, determined to make as far an advance to 
the north as possible. By most arduous labours in warping 



BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN 37 

and tracking, etc., he attained a latitude of 80° 34' N., but, 
though attached to floes, he found himself being carried to 
the southward by the current. On the 15th and 16th of July, 
both ships suffered considerable ice pressure. The nine days 
following, the crew worked night and day to free the ships 
and get into open water. 

Having given the ice a fair trial and proved it unnavigable, 
Buchan turned his attention toward the eastern coast of 
Greenland, intending, if it proved impenetrable there, to 
round the south cape of Spitzbergen and attempt to make an 
advance between that island and Nova Zembla. A terrific 
gale struck them the 30th of July, which brought down the 
ice upon them and threatened their immediate destruction. 
Of this encounter Lieutenant Beechey gives a most vivid 
description : — 

"In order to avert the effects of this as much as possible, 
a cable was cut up into thirty feet lengths, and these, with 
plates of iron four feet square, which had been supplied to 
us as fenders, together with some walrus hides, were hung 
round the vessels, especially about the bows. The masts, 
at the same time, were secured with additional ropes, and 
the hatches were battened and nailed down. By the time 
these precautions had been taken, our approach to the 
breakers only left us the alternative of either permitting the 
ships to be drifted broadside against the ice, and so to take 
their chance, or of endeavoring to force fairly into it by 
putting before the wind. At length, the hopeless state of a 
vessel placed broadside against so formidable a body became 
apparent to all, and we resolved to attempt the latter ex- 
pedient." 

Beechey, in describing the appalling scene, continues: — 

"No language, I am convinced, can convey an adequate 
idea of the terrific grandeur of the effect now produced by 
the collision of the ice and the tempestuous ocean. The sea, 



38 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

violently agitated and rolling its mountainous waves against 
an opposing body, is at all times a sublime and awful sight ; 
but when, in addition, it encounters immense masses, which 
it has set in motion with a violence equal to its own, its 
effect is prodigiously increased. At one moment it bursts 
upon these icy fragments and buries them many feet be- 
neath its wave, and the next, as the buoyancy of the de- 
pressed body struggles for reascendancy, the water rushes in 
foaming cataracts over the edges, while every individual mass, 
rocking and laboring in its bed, grinds against and contends 
with its opponent, until one is either split with the shock or 
upheaved upon the surface of the other. Nor is this collision 
confined to any particular spot ; it is going on as far as the 
sight can reach ; and when from this convulsive scene below, 
the eye is turned to the extraordinary appearance of the 
blink in the sky above, where the unnatural clearness of a 
calm and silvery atmosphere presents itself, bounded by a dark, 
hard line of stormy clouds, such as this moment lowered over 
our masts, as if to mark the confines within which the efforts 
of man would be of no avail, the reader may imagine the sen- 
sation of awe which must accompany that of grandeur in the 
mind of the beholder." And he continues : "If ever that 
fortitude of seamen was fairly tried, it was assuredly not 
less so on this occasion ; and I will not conceal the pride I felt 
in witnessing the bold and decisive tone in which the orders 
were issued by the commander (the present Captain Sir John 
Franklin) of our little vessel, and the promptitude and 
steadiness with which they were executed by the crew." 

As the vessel rapidly approached the dangerous wall of 
ice, each person instinctively secured his own hold, and, with 
his eyes fixed upon the masts, awaited in breathless anxiety 
the moment of concussion. "It soon arrived; the brig 
(Trent), cutting her way through the light ice, came in violent 
contact with the main body. In an instant we all lost our 



BUCHAN AND FRANKLIN 39 

footing ; the masts bent with the impetus, and the cracking 
timbers from below bespoke a pressure which was calculated 
to awaken our serious apprehensions. The vessel staggered 
under the shock, and for a moment seemed to recoil ; but 
the next wave, curling up under her counter, drove her 
about her own length within the margin of the ice, where 
she gave one roll, and was immediately thrown broadside 
to the wind by the succeeding wave, which beat furiously 
against her stern, and brought her lee side in contact with 
the main body, leaving her weather side exposed at the same 
time to a piece of ice about twice her own dimensions. This 
unfortunate occurrence prevented the vessel penetrating suf- 
ficiently far into the ice to escape the effect of the gale, and 
placed her in a situation where she was assailed on all sides 
by battering-rams, if I may use the expression, every one of 
which contested the small space which she occupied, and 
dealt such unrelenting blows, that there appeared to be 
scarcely any possibility of saving her from foundering. 
Literally tossed from piece to piece, we had nothing left but 
patiently abide the issue ; for we could scarcely keep our 
feet, much less render any assistance to the vessel. The 
motion, indeed, was so great, that the ship's bell, which, in 
the heaviest gale of wind, had never struck of itself, now 
tolled so continually, that it was ordered to be muffled, for 
the purpose of escaping the unpleasant association it was 
calculated to produce. 

"In anticipation of the worst, we determined to attempt 
placing the launch upon the ice under the lee, and hurried 
into her such provisions and stores as could at the moment 
be got at. Serious doubts were reasonably entertained 
of the boat being able to live among the confused mass by 
which we were encompassed ; yet as this appeared to be our 
only refuge, we clung to it with all the eagerness of a last 
resource." 



40 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

It was only too evident that she could not long survive the 
critical position in which she was placed and that the only 
salvation lay in penetrating still farther into the ice. To 
this end, more sail was spread, and, with the added power, 
she righted herself, split a small field of ice, fourteen feet in 
thickness, and effected a passage for herself between the 
pieces. On the gale abating, both ships reached the open sea, 
but were greatly disabled, the Dorothea in a foundering con- 
dition. In this useless state they made for Fair Haven, 
in Spitzbergen, where they underwent necessary repairs. 
Lieutenant Franklin urgently requested to be allowed to 
return to the interesting quest which they had been obliged 
to abandon, but this being impossible, owing to the shattered 
condition of the ships, the expedition put to sea the end of 
August and reached England about the middle of October, 
1818. 



CHAPTER IV 

1819-1827: Parry's first voyage. — Object, to survey .Lancaster 
Sound and prove the non-existence of Crocker Mountains. — 
Discovery of new lands. — Parry Islands. — Attains longitude 
110° W., thereby winning the bounty of five thousand pounds 
offered by Parliament. — Winters near Melville Island. — Second 
voyage. — Ships Hecla and Fury. — Examines Duke of York Bay 
and Frozen Strait of Middleton. — Winters off Lyon Inlet. — 
Sledge journeys. — Object, to make Northwest Passage via Prince 
Regent Inlet. — Reached Port Bowen. — Ten months' impris- 
onment. — Destruction of the Fury. — Hasty return to England. 
Fourth voyage. — Purpose to reach the Pole via Spitzbergen 
with sledge boats over ice. — Hecla as transport. — Parry's 
farthest, 82° 45' N., reached June 23, 1827. 

The principal object of Lieutenant W. E. Parry's first 
voyage under the direction of the British Admiralty was 
to pursue the survey of Lancaster Sound, so abruptly dis- 
continued by Captain Ross the previous year, and decide 
the probability of a northwest passage in that direction, thus 
settling the much-disputed question of the existence of the 
"Crocker Mountains," which Parry, who had accompanied 
Ross, declared from the first to have been an ocular illusion. 
Should Lancaster Sound not prove navigable, Smith and 
Jones sounds were to be explored. 

The Hecla, 375 tons, and the Griper, 180 tons, were strength- 
ened and provisioned for two years. Sailing from the 
Thames May 11, 1819, they reached Davis Strait the last 
week in June, and here experienced a good deal of annoyance 
from ice, through which they made a slow and difficult 

41 



42 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

passage by heaving and warping, reaching Possession Bay 
a month later. Upon landing the men were not a little sur- 
prised to see their own footprints of the previous year; a fox, 
a raven, some ring flowers, and snow-buntings were seen, 
also a bee. Tufts and ground plants grew in considerable 
abundance wherever there was moisture. 

Proceeding on their voyage, they reached, by August 4, 
longitude 86° 56' W., three degrees to the westward of 
where land had been laid down by Captain Ross. Passing 
through Barrow Strait, they found ice to such an extent 
north of Leopold Island that Parry determined to shape his 
course to the southward and explore the beautiful sheet of 
water to which he gave the name of Regent Inlet. 

The compass now became useless, owing to the local at- 
traction, and the binnacles were discarded. Having pene- 
trated one hundred and twenty miles and having given the 
farthest point of land the name of Cape Kater, it was found 
necessary to return to the southward or be caught in the ice. 
Skirting the north shore of Barrow Strait, they later passed 
two large openings, to the first of which Parry gave the 
name of Wellington Channel, also naming various capes 
and inlets, as he passed them, Batham, Barlow, Cornwallis, 
Bowen, Byam Martin, Griffith, Lowther, Bathurst, and others. 

Navigation now became extremely difficult, owing to 
thick fogs, but notwithstanding many obstacles they reached 
the coast of an island larger than any yet discovered, which 
they called Melville Island, and by the 4th of September 
Lieutenant Parry was able to make the joyful announcement 
to his crew that, having passed longitude 110° W., they 
were entitled to the reward of five thousand pounds promised 
by Parliament to the first ship's company which should reach 
that meridian. 

To celebrate their success, they gave the name of Cape 
Bounty to the farthest neck of land sighted in the distance. 



parry's first voyage 43 

Every effort was now made to push forward in the hope of 
reaching longitude 130° W., thereby securing the second re- 
ward held out by the government. They had progressed 
but a short distance when, to their great disappointment, 
farther advance became impossible by reason of an impene- 
trable barrier of ice. 

The approach of winter decided Lieutenant Parry to seek 
the shelter near Melville Island and there prepare for the 
long winter months. 

To the group of islands in the vicinity of which he had taken 
refuge, he gave the name of Georgian Islands, in honour of 
His Majesty, King George III, but later the name was 
changed to Parry Islands. 

Knowing well that good spirits meant good health in the 
tedious winter months, Lieutenant Parry established a school 
for his men, as well as the diversion of a newspaper, and the 
ship's crew acted several plays, which were most enthusiasti- 
cally received. In spite of enforced exercise and other meth- 
ods for keeping in good physical condition, scurvy showed 
itself among the crew, and such antiscorbutics as lemon juice, 
pickles, mustard, cress, and spruce-beer were put into requi- 
sition. Later, snow-blindness afflicted some of the men, but 
was relieved by washes and the wearing of black crape before 
the eyes. 

As the spring approached, the ships were made ready for 
the first opportunity to escape from the ice, which, however, 
remained impenetrable. 

On the 1st of June an excursion was made across Melville 
Island by Lieutenant Parry and others, carrying provisions 
for three weeks. They found such parts of the ground as 
were free from snow covered with dwarf willow, sorrel, and 
poppy, also moss and saxifrage. A few ducks and ptarmigan 
were killed. Upon his return to the ship the middle of 
June, Captain Parry ordered his men to make daily excursions 



44 THE GREAT WHITE JSOETH 

after sorrel, which they procured in large quantities and 
greatly enjoyed. On the western side of the island at Bush- 
man's Cove, in Liddon's Gulf, they found "one of the pleas- 
antest and most habitable spots we had yet seen in the Arctic 
regions, the vegetation being more abundant and forward 
than in any other place, and the situation sheltered and favor- 
able for game." 

Though channels and pools were everywhere forming, it 
was not until the second of August that the great mass of ice 
broke up and floated out. The ship now made for the open 
water, but after a short advance, in spite of . every effort, they 
found themselves once more prevented by the impenetrable 
barrier of ice from making their way westward. There seemed 
no alternative but a return homeward, and after taking 
certain additional observations of the two coasts extending 
along Barrow Strait, they set sail for England. 

A warm welcome awaited the daring navigators, who had 
reached a longitude greater by more than 30° than any other 
explorer ; who had discovered many new lands, islands, and 
bays; had established the fact of a polar sea north of America ; 
and had wintered successfully in the Arctic, bringing back his 
crew in good condition. 

Parry's unprecedented success and the enthusiasm for 
Arctic exploration throughout England decided the British 
Admiralty to send out a second expedition to attempt a 
passage in a lower latitude than that of Melville Island. 
The Hecla and the Fury were manned and provisioned and 
put under the command of Captain Parry and Lieutenant 
Lyon, whose travels in Tripoli, Mourzouk, and other parts of 
northern Africa had already brought him consideration and 
some degree of renown. The transport Nautilus was to 
accompany the ships as far as the ice, and transship extra 
provisions and stock as soon as room could be found for them. 

The ships sailed from the Nore on the 8th of May, 1821, 



parry's second voyage 45 

and by the 2d of July were at the mouth of Hudson 
Strait, having parted with the Nautilus the previous day. 
Icebergs in formidable numbers had already been encountered, 
and the desolate condition of the shores, the naked rocks, the 
snow-covered valleys, and the thick fogs encountered were 
anything but encouraging. 

Progress was now made through very heavy floes, and be- 
tween strong currents, eddies, and icebergs they were menaced 
by serious danger for more than ten days. While embayed 
in the ice, they sighted near Resolution Island three strange 
ships also fast in the ice. These they later managed to join, 
and found them to be Hudson Bay Company's traders, the 
Prince of Wales, the Eddystane, and the Lord Wellington, char- 
tered to convey one hundred and sixty emigrants, who intended 
settling on Lord Selkirk's estate at the Red River. Of these 
people Lieutenant Lyon writes an interesting account : — 

"While nearing these vessels, we observed the settlers 
waltzing on deck for above two hours, the men in old-fash- 
ioned gray jackets, and the women wearing long-eared mob 
caps, like those used by Swiss peasants. As we were sur- 
rounded by ice, and the thermometer was at the freezing 
point, it may be supposed that this ball al vero fresco afforded 
us much amusement." 

Some days later they fell in with some Eskimos, who came 
out to the ships, the men in their kayaks, the women in 
their special "oomiaks." The natives boarded the ships 
and, says Captain Lyon : — 

"It is quite out of my power to describe the shouts, 
yells, and laughter of the savages, or the confusion which 
existed for two or three hours. The females were at first very 
shy, and unwilling to come on the ice, but bartered every- 
thing from their boats. This timidity, however, soon wore 
off, and they, in the end, became as noisy and boisterous as 
the men." 



46 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

"The strangers were so well pleased in our society/' con- 
tinues Captain Lyon, "that they showed no wish to leave us, 
and when the market had quite ceased, they began dancing 
and playing with our people, on the ice alongside. 

"In order to amuse our new acquaintances as much as 
possible, the fiddler was sent on the ice, where he instantly 
found a most delightful set of dancers, of whom some of the 
women kept pretty good time. Their only figure consisted 
in stamping and jumping with all their might. Our musi- 
cian, who was a lively fellow, soon caught the infection, and 
began cutting capers also. In a short time every one on the 
floe, officers, men, and savages, were dancing together, and 
exhibited one of the most extraordinary sights I ever wit- 
nessed. One of our seamen, of a fresh, ruddy complexion, 
excited the admiration of all the young females, who patted 
his face and danced round him wherever he went. The ex- 
ertion of dancing so exhilarated the Eskimos, that they had 
the appearance of being boisterously drunk, and played many 
extraordinary pranks. Among others, it was a favorite joke 
to run slyly behind the seamen, and shouting loudly in one 
ear, to give them at the same time a very smart slap on the 
other. While looking on, I was sharply saluted in this 
manner, and, of course, was quite startled, to the great amuse- 
ment of the bystanders. Our cook, who was a most. active 
and unwearied jumper, became so great a favorite, that every 
one boxed his ears so soundly as to oblige the poor man to 
retire from such boisterous marks of approbation. Among 
other sports, some of the Eskimos, rather roughly but with 
great good humor, challenged our people to wrestle. One 
man in particular, who had thrown several of his countrymen, 
attacked an officer of a very strong make, but the poor savage 
was instantly thrown, with no very easy fall ; yet, although 
every one was laughing at him, he bore it with exemplary 
good humor. The same officer afforded us much diversion 



FROZEN STRAIT OF MIDDLETOX 47 

by teaching a large party of women to bow, courtesy, shake 
hands, turn their toes out, and perform other polite accom- 
plishments ; tne whole party, master and pupils, presenting 
the strictest gravity. 

"Toward midnight all our men, except the watch on deck, 
turned into their beds, and the fatigued and hungry Eskimos 
returned to their boats to take their supper, which consisted 
of lumps of raw flesh, and blubber of seals, birds, entrails, 
etc. ; licking their fingers with great zest, and with knives 
or fingers scraping the blood and grease which ran down their 
chins into their mouths." 

Parry made an examination of Duke of York Bay, and the 
20th of August reached the Frozen Strait of Middleton. Two 
days later the Hecla and Fury got well into Repulse Bay, and 
a careful examination of the shores was made by parties of 
officers and men in boats. By the 31st of August they reached 
Gore Bay, which was packed with ice. Encountering thick 
fogs, northerly winds, and heavy ice-floes, they found that in 
spite of every exertion they were being carried back to the 
spot in Fox Channel from which they had started some days 
before. However, they later made some advance and 
anchored near Lyon Inlet. 

Early in October the sludge, or young ice, began to form, a 
warning of approaching winter, to be followed shortly by the 
pancake ice and bay ice, which necessitated finding at once 
winter quarters for the ships. The southeast extremity of an 
island off Lyon Inlet was selected, and called Winter Island, 
and the monotonous winter closed in upon them shortly after. 

The usual theatrical diversions were provided for the 
entertainment of the crew, and the " Rivals" was presented as 
well as another successful play. The crew took kindly to 
a school established by the officers and to other forms of 
mental and physical activity designed to keep the expedition 
in good health and spirits. Christmas was celebrated with 



48 THE GBEAT WHITE NORTH 

especial good cheer, and English roast beef, which had been 
kept by being frozen, was served, as well as cranberry pies 
and plum puddings. The effect of the intense cold upon cer- 
tain of their stores is interesting : — 

"Wine froze in the bottles. Port was congealed into thin 
pink laminae, which lay loosely, and occupied the whole 
length of the bottle. White wine, on the contrary, froze into 
a solid and perfectly transparent mass, resembling amber." 

On the 15th of March, a party under Captain Lyon started 
out to explore the land near the ships ; they were provisioned 
for three or four days, but their experience was most unfor- 
tunate. The cold was intense, their tents at night affording 
little protection against the frightfully low temperature. 
They spent some time digging out a snow hut, which they 
hoped would prove warmer, but this was hardly more satis- 
factory. The following morning they found themselves 
almost buried with snow which had drifted at night during 
a fierce gale which now raged. All paraphernalia, sledges, 
etc., were completely buried. To remain where they were 
was as impracticable as to move on. Carrying with them a 
few pounds of bread, some rum, and a spade, the party set 
out in the hope of reaching the ships. Captain Lyon records 
their sufferings as follows : — 

"Not knowing where to go, we wandered among heavy 
hummocks of ice, and suffering from cold, fatigue, and anxi- 
ety, were soon completely bewildered. Several of our party 
now began to exhibit symptons of that horrid kind of insen- 
sibility which is the prelude of sleep. They all professed 
extreme willingness to do what they were told in order to keep 
in exercise, but none obeyed ; on the contrary, they reeled 
about like drunken men. The faces of several were severely 
frost bitten, and some had for a considerable time lost sensa- 
tion in their finger's and toes ; yet they made not the slightest 
exertion to rub the parts affected, and even discontinued 



TEN months' 1 imprisonment 49 

their general custom of warning each other on observing a 
discoloration of the skin. Mr. Palmer employed the people 
in building a snow wall, ostensibly as a shelter from the wind, 
but in fact to give them exercise when standing still must 
have proved fatal to men in our circumstances. My atten- 
tion was exclusively directed to Sergeant Speckman, who, 
having been repeatedly warned that his nose was frozen, had 
paid no attention to it, owing to the state of stupefaction into 
which he had fallen. The frost bite now extended over one 
side of his face, which was frozen as hard as a mask ; the eye- 
lids were stiff and one corner of the upper lip so drawn up as 
to expose the teeth and gums. My hands being still warm, I 
had happiness in restoring circulation, after which I used all 
my endeavors to keep the poor fellow in motion ; but he com- 
plained sadly of giddiness and dimness of sight, and was so 
weak as to be unable to walk without assistance. His case 
was so alarming that I expected every moment he would lie 
down never to rise again. 

" Our prospect now became every moment more gloomy, and 
it was but too probable that four of our party would be unable 
to survive another hour. Mr. Palmer, however, endeavored, 
as well as myself, to cheer the people up, but it was a faint 
attempt, as we had not a single hope to give them. Every 
piece of ice, or even of small rock or stone, was now supposed 
to be the ships, and we had great difficulty in preventing the 
men from running to the different objects which attracted 
them, and consequently losing themselves in the drift. In 
this state, while Mr. Palmer was running round us to warm 
himself, he suddenly pitched on a new beaten track, and as 
exercise was indispensable, we determined on following it, 
wherever it might lead us. Having taken the Sergeant under 
my coat, he recovered a little, and we moved onward, when 
to our infinite joy we found that the path led to the ships." 

It was not until the 2d of July that the ships, free from 



50 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

ice for the first time in 267 days, put to sea, but not without 
danger of squeezes from the moving ice-floes which frequently 
threatened the destruction of the ship. Pushing to the north- 
ward, they entertained high hopes of making the looked-for 
passage to the Polar Sea, but unfortunately a formidable line 
of impenetrable ice barred the way and determined Parry to 
make an expedition along the frozen surface of the strait in 
which they found themselves. 

For four days Parry, accompanied by a party of six, made a 
laborious and fatiguing advance over the uneven hummocks 
of ice that confronted them. At times open water made the 
journey still more perilous. Their exertions were at last 
repaid when they came in view of a bold cape, where they 
found the strait at its narrowest part about two miles across. 
To the westward the land receded until it became invisible, 
and Captain Parry beheld the great Polar Sea, into which he 
had long hoped to force his way. Naming this the Fury and 
Hecla Strait, he made ready for the return to the ships. 

Taking advantage of every favourable condition, Captain 
Parry now made as rapid progress toward his goal as the ice 
would permit. Under full sail they pushed into the rotten 
ice that formed the barrier to the open water, but suddenly 
they became fixed, — not another yard could be gained. It 
was now found necessary to extricate the vessels and seek 
shelter for another long winter. On the 30th of October, by 
the usual operation of sawing, the ships were drawn into the 
harbour of Igloolik, and made ready for the winter, which was 
now rapidly closing. 

Excursions were occasionally made with dogs and sledges 
bought of the Eskimos, but the season settled down with 
unusual severity and the second long winter's night proved 
much more trying than the first. Death and scurvy made 
their lamentable appearance, and although Captain Parry 
desired to make another effort the following year by transfer- 



DESTRUCTION OF THE FURY 51 

ring to the Fury all provisions that could be spared, and send- 
ing the Hecla home with the sick, this project was abandoned, 
and on the 9th of August they turned their faces homeward. 

They touched at Winter Island and found radishes, mus- 
tard, cress, and onions that they had planted the previous 
year still alive. The ships were drifted about in a stormy sea 
at the mercy of ice-floes and adverse currents. Not until 
September 23 did they get free into the Atlantic ; and, the 
10th of October, 1823, reached Lerwick, Scotland. 

This expedition having proved the impracticability of 
a passage through the western extremity of Melville Island or 
by way of Fury and Hecla Strait, it was hoped that a passage 
might be accomplished through Prince Regent Inlet. For 
this purpose, Captain Parry was again fitted out in the Hecla 
and in the accidental absence of Captain Lyon, Lieutenant 
Hoppner was put in command of the Fury. The expedition 
sailed from Northfleet on the 19th of May, 1824, and entered 
Davis Strait about the middle of June. Lancaster Sound 
was not reached until September 10, and Port Bowen was 
made their winter quarters. After ten months' imprison- 
ment, the ships were once more free, but, later overtaken by 
gales, both ships sustained serious damage. Drift ice caught 
them and threatened immediate destruction. The Fury was 
thrown on shore and seriously damaged. Later it was found 
necessary to abandon her. The Hecla, now overcrowded by 
the provisions and crew of the Fury, could no longer pursue 
her course and was forced to return to England. Bitter as was 
his disappointment, Parry clung to the idea that a northwest 
passage would some day be accomplished, and to this end he 
wrote : — 

"I feel confident that the undertaking, if it be deemed ad- 
visable at any future time to pursue it, will one day or other 
be accomplished ; for setting aside the accidents to which, 
from their very nature, such attempts must be liable, as well 



52 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

as other unfavorable circumstances which human foresight 
can never guard against, or human power control, I cannot 
but believe it to be an enterprise of practicability. It may 
be tried often and fail, for several favorable and fortunate 
circumstances must be combined for its accomplishment : but 
I believe, nevertheless, that it will ultimately be accomplished." 

"I am much mistaken, indeed," he continues, "if the North- 
west Passage ever becomes the business of a single summer ; 
nay, I believe that nothing but a concurrence of very favor- 
able circumstances is likely ever to make a single winter in 
the ice sufficient for its accomplishment. But there is no 
argument against the possibility of final success ; for we 
know that a winter in the ice may be passed not only in safety, 
but in health and comfort." 

"I in April, 1826," writes Captain Parry, "proposed to the 
Right Honorable Viscount Melville, the first lord commis- 
sioner of the Admiralty, to attempt to reach the North Pole 
by means of travelling with sledge-boats over the ice, or 
through any spaces of open water that might occur. My 
proposal was soon afterward referred to the president and 
council of the Royal Society, who strongly recommended 
its adoption ; and an expedition being accordingly directed 
to be equipped for this purpose, I had the honour of being 
appointed to the command of it ; and my commission for his 
majesty's ship the Hecla, which was to carry us to Spitz- 
bergen, was dated the 11th of November, 1826. 

"Two boats were constructed at Woolwich, under my su- 
perintendence, after an excellent model suggested by Mr. 
Peake, and nearly resembling what are called 'troop-boats,' 
having great flatness of floor, with the extreme breadth carried 
well forward and aft, and possessing the utmost buoyancy, as 
well as capacity for storage. Their length was twenty feet, 
and their extreme breadth seven feet. The timbers were 
made of tough ash and hickory, one inch by half an inch 



parry's fourth voyage 53 

square, and a foot apart, with a 'half timber' of smaller size 
between each two. On the outside of the frame thus formed 
was laid a covering of Mackintosh's water proof canvas, 
the outer part being covered with tar. Over this was placed 
a plank for fir, only three-sixteenths of an inch thick ; then 
a sheet of stout felt ; and over all, an oak plank of the same 
thickness as the fir ; the whole of these being firmly and closely 
secured to the timbers by iron screws applied from without." 

"On each side of the keel," continues Captain Parry, "and 
projecting considerably below it, was attached a strong 
1 runner ' shod with smooth steel, in the manner of a sledge, 
upon which the boat entirely rested while upon the ice." 
Two wheels were also attached, but soon discarded as useless, 
owing to the unevenness of the ice. 

Two officers and twelve men were selected for each boat's 
crew. The Hecla, acting as transport for the adventure, 
sailed March 27, 1827, and made Hakluyt's Headland by the 
13th of May, where she was shortly beset by an ice-floe which 
carried her off to the eastward, causing both delay and vexa- 
tion. For the safety of the Hecla it was found necessary to 
return to Spitzbergen and secure anchorage in a safe harbour. 
This Parry accomplished and, finding a convenient recess, 
which he named Hecla's Cove, made ready for the main object 
of the expedition. 

Having with him seventy-one days' provisions, consisting 
of pemmican, biscuit, cocoa, and rum, with spirit of wine to 
be used as fuel, changes of warm clothing, thick fur dresses 
for sleeping in, and stout Eskimo boots, he got away June 
22, and proceeded in open water some eighty miles, when the 
boats came to a trying condition of mixed surface ice and 
water, through which it was found necessary alternately to 
haul and float them. Owing to the better condition of the 
ice, it was deemed best to reverse the usual course of life. 

"Travelling by night and sleeping by day," writes Captain 



54 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Parry " so completely inverted the natural order of things 
that it was difficult to persuade ourselves of the reality. 
Even the officers and myself, who were all furnished with 
pocket chronometers, could not always bear in mind at which 
part of the twenty-four hours we had arrived ; and there were 
several of the men who declared, and I believe truly, that they 
never knew night from day during the whole excursion. 
When we rose in the evening, we commenced our day by 
prayers ; after which we took off our fur sleeping dresses and 
put on clothes for travelling, the former being made of camlet 
lined with raccoon skin, and the latter of strong blue cloth. 
We made a point always of putting on the same stockings and 
boots for travelling in, whether they had been dried during 
the day or not, and I believe it was only in five or six instances 
at the most that they were not either still wet or hard frozen. 
This indeed was of no consequence, beyond the discomfort of 
first putting them on in this state, as they were sure to be 
thoroughly wet in a quarter of an hour after commencing our 
journey ; while, on the other hand, it was of vital importance 
to keep dry things for sleeping in. Being 'rigged' for travel- 
ling, we breakfasted upon warm cocoa and biscuit, and 
after stowing the things in boats, and on the sledges, so as to 
secure them as much as possible from the wet, we set off on 
our day's journey and usually travelled four, five, or seven 
hours, according to circumstances." 

They made very slow progress in spite of their strenuous 
exertions, owing to the floes being small, exceedingly rough, 
and intersected by lanes of water which could not be crossed 
without unloading the boats. Rain added to their discom- 
fort, causing the ice to form into numberless irregular needle- 
like crystals, which proved very trying to the feet. Elevated 
hummocks presented themselves, over which it was almost 
impossible to draw the boats. 

Even by the utmost efforts they could not make an ad- 



parry's fourth voyage 55 

vance of more than a mile and a half or two miles in five or 
six hours. Realizing the unfavourable conditions for reaching 
the pole, owing to the advanced season of the year, Parry soon 
relinquished that hope and bent his energies to reaching at 
best the 83° parallel, if possible. But now to his utter dis- 
couragement it was found that the drifting of the snow fields 
was gradually carrying them backward, and that, in spite of 
every attempt to advance, they were daily losing ground. 

On July 23, they reached their farthest north, 82° 45'. 
"At the extreme point of our journey," says Parry, "our dis- 
tance from the Hecla was only one hundred and seventy-two 
miles in a S. W. direction. To accomplish this distance, we 
had traversed, by our reckoning, two hundred and ninety-two 
miles, of which about one hundred were performed by water 
previously to our entering the ice. As we travelled by far the 
greater part of our distance on the ice three, and not unfre- 
quently five, times over, we may safely multiply the length of 
the road by two and a half ; so that our whole distance, on a 
very moderate calculation, amounted to five hundred and 
eighty geographical, or six hundred and sixty-eight statute 
miles, being nearly sufficient to have reached the pole in a 
direct line. Up to this period, we had been particularly for- 
tunate in the preservation of our health." 

Owing to the increased softness of the ice, the return trip 
was even more difficult than the advance, the men sinking 
to their thighs in the ice slush. By the 11th of August the 
joyful sound of the surf breaking against the margin of the 
ice was heard, and later the boats were launched into open 
water, and in another ten days they rejoined the. Hecla, and 
soon afterward sailed for England. 

Parry's remarkable voyages, besides reaping a rich harvest 
of scientific data, had proved the navigability of Lancaster 
Sound, the non-existence of the Crocker Mountains, and that 
Prince Regent Inlet opened into Barrow Strait, which in 



56 THE QBE AT WHITE NORTH 

turn widened into Melville Sound, and thence opened into the 
polar ocean. He had added to the map the important 
archipelago or Parry Islands, many of which he named and 
explored; had outlined the sounds, bays, and inlets through 
which he had sailed; discovered Hecla and Fury Strait; and 
demonstrated the impracticability of making the northwest 
passage by way of Frozen Strait. 



CHAPTER V 

Nineteenth century, continued : Scoresby and Clavering. — For- 
mer visited Jan Mayen Island in 1817, later visited east coast 
of Greenland, discovered Scoresby Sound. — In 1824, Captain 
Lyon surveyed Melville Peninsula. — Adjoining straits and shores 
of Arctic America. — In 1825, Captain Beechey in the Blossom 
sailed through Behring Strait and passed beyond Icy Cape. — ■ 
Surveyed the coast as far as Point Barrow, adding 126 miles of 
new shore. — Second voj r age of Captain John Ross. — Undertaken 
in 1829. — Discovers Boothia. — Wintered in Felix Harbor. — 
Discovery of North Magnetic Pole by nephew of Captain John 
Ross. — Commander James Clark Ross. — Valuable observations. 

— Sledge journeys to mainland. — Four years spent in the Arc- 
tic. — Perilous retreat. — Safe return. — Land journey by Captain 
Back. — The Great Fish-Back River. — Point Ogle. — Point 
Richardson. — Back's farthest point was 68° 13' 57" north lati- 
tude, 94° 58' 1" west longitude. Land journeys of Simpson and 
Dease, 1836. — Descend the Mackenzie River to the sea. — Sur- 
veyed west shore between Return Reef and Cape Barrow. — In 
1839, they explored shores of Victoria Land as far as Cape Parry. 

— Crossed Coronation Gulf. — Descended the Coppermine. — 
Reached the Polar Sea. — Overland journey in 1846 by Dr. John 
Rae confirmed Captain John Ross's statement that Boothia was 
a peninsula. 

The names of Scoresby and Clavering hold their own 
special interest in the long list of heroes of the north. A 
practical whaleman, of an intelligent and scientific frame of 
mind, Scoresby, as early as 1806, had penetrated to within five 
hundred geographical miles of the Pole. In 1817 he had made 
an excursion to Jan Mayen Island, and later ascended Mitre 

57 



58 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Cape, whose summit is estimated at three thousand feet 
above the level of the sea. But not until 1822 did his dis- 
coveries reach the greatest importance. In this year, while 
searching for better fishing grounds, he fell in with the eastern 
coast of Greenland, a shore almost entirely unknown, ex- 
cept where the Dutch colonies of Old Greenland were sup- 
posed to have been situated. Skirting this bleak and barren 
coast, Scoresby named inlets, bays, and capes as he dis- 
covered them, passing Jameson Land and finally reaching 
Scoresby Sound. 

The coast of Jameson Land seemed especially fertile, and 
evidences of rude habitations were seen, but no human be- 
ings discovered. Proceeding northward, still following the 
coast-line, he was soon beset with ice, and though he named 
other points of land and inlets, he was obliged to return, not 
having run across the whales which it was his business to 
secure. 

Good fortune, however, favoured him, for on the 15th of 
August numerous whales appeared round the ship ; three 
were secured, and the ship now "full-fished" could make a 
happy return to England after a most successful year. 

The following season, Captain Clavering, commander of 
H. M. S. Griper, conveyed a Captain Sabine to Hammerfest 
in Norway, where Sabine desired to make certain scientific 
observations on the comparative length of the pendulum 
as affected by the principle of attraction. Other northern 
points were to be touched for similar purposes, and Spitz- 
bergen and the east coast of Greenland were designated, 
the latter point being reached early in August. " He landed 
his passenger and the scientific apparatus on two islands 
detached from the eastern shore of the continent, which he 
called the Pendulum Islands, and of which the outermost 
point is marked by a bold headland rising to the height of 
three thousand feet." ("Arctic Adventures," Sargent.) 



MELVILLE PENINSULA 59 

While waiting for Captain Sabine, Clavering reconnoitred 
the coast, and was more fortunate than Scoresby in running 
across some of the natives, who closely resembled those 
described by Parry. By the beginning of September, Sabine 
having completed his observations, the Griper made her way, 
not without difficulty and delays, by way of Drontheim, 
back to England. 

In 1824, Captain Lyon, commanding the Griper, was given 
the task of the survey of Melville Peninsula, adjoining straits, 
and the shore of Arctic America. Overladen and unsea- 
worthy, the Griper was totally unfit for such an expedition, 
and upon reaching Roe Welcome, she was struck by a gale 
which threatened the destruction of both the ship and crew. 
After being battered around at the mercy of the storm for 
three days and nights, in which commander and crew had 
taken no rest or sleep, she was finally brought to anchor in a 
shallow bay, later designated as God's Mercy. Here she was 
still in imminent danger of being grounded, and there seemed 
little hope of her surviving the high seas then running. The 
crew were ordered to prepare for the worst, and to this end 
each man was commanded to put on his warmer clothing. 
Of this scene, Captain Lyon writes : — 

"Each, therefore, brought his bag on deck and dressed 
himself, and in the fine athletic forms which stood exposed 
before me, I did not see one muscle quiver, nor the slightest 
sign of alarm. Prayers were read, and they then all sat 
down in groups, sheltered from the wash of the sea by what- 
ever they could find, and some endeavored to obtain a little 
sleep. Never, perhaps, was witnessed a finer scene than 
on the deck of my little ship, when all hope of life had left 
us. Noble as the character of the British sailor is always 
allowed to be in cases of danger, yet I did not believe it to be 
possible that among forty-one persons, not one repining 
word should have been uttered. Each was at peace with 



60 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

his neighbor and all the world ; and I am firmly persuaded 
that the resignation which was then shown to the will of the 
Almighty, was the means of obtaining His mercy. God was 
merciful to us, and the tide, almost miraculously, fell no 
lower." 

As soon as the weather conditions permitted, they at- 
tempted to proceed up Melville Channel, but another storm 
overtook them, and, after consulting with his officers, it was 
decided to turn the crippled ship for home. 

Another expedition that set out about this time (1825) 
was commanded by Captain Beechey. The Blossom was 
directed to round Cape Horn and enter the Arctic by way of 
Behring Strait. In describing this great gateway to the 
north, Captain Beechey writes : — 

"We approached the strait which separates the two great 
continents of Asia and America, on one of those beautiful 
still nights' well known to all who have visited the Arctic 
regions, when the sky is without a cloud, and when the mid- 
night sun, scarcely his own diameter below the horizon, 
tinges with a bright hue all the northern circle. 

"Our ship, propelled by an increasing breeze, glided 
rapidly along a smooth sea, starting from her path flocks of 
aquatic birds, whose flight, in the deep silence of the scene, 
could be traced by the ear to a great distance." 

To the north of Cape Prince of Wales, they were visited by 
Eskimos with whom they bartered and had friendly inter- 
course. By the 22d of July, the ship reached Kotzebue 
Sound, and after exploring a deep inlet on its northern shore, 
which they named Hotham Inlet, they continued their 
course to Chamisso Island, where they hoped to fall in with 
Sir John Franklin's expedition, then in the field. Skirting the 
coast by Cape Thomson, Point Hope, Cape Lisburn, Cape 
Beaufort, and Icy Cape, they began to see evidences of the 
approach of winter, and rather than risk being frozen in, they 
returned to Kotzebue Sound. 



ROSS' SECOND VOYAGE 61 

From here Captain Beechey despatched the barge in 
charge of his lieutenants to survey the coast. This they suc- 
cessfully accomplished as far as Point Barrow, a distance 
of one hundred and twenty-six miles of new shore. 

The last of August, 1827, found the Blossom again at 
Chamisso Island, where intercourse was renewed with the 
Eskimos. By October, no news having been received of 
Franklin, Captain Beechey reluctantly shaped his homeward 
course. Not until the following year, October 12, 1828, did 
he arrive in England, after an absence of three years and a 
half. 

We now return to Captain John Ross, whose professional 
reputation had suffered for ten years, under the cloud of his 
early failure. Ever anxious to retrieve his unfortunate mis- 
takes, he had in vain implored the British Admiralty to send 
him once more to the Arctic. Undaunted by their refusal 
and indifference, he persevered in his determination, and at 
last found a liberal supporter in Felix Booth, a rich distiller, 
who contributed seventeen thousand pounds toward the pro- 
posed expedition, Captain Ross adding his own entire fortune, 
which was about three thousand pounds more. 

A small Liverpool steamer called the Victory, one hundred 
and fifty tons, was purchased and provisioned for three years. 
Accompanying Captain Ross, as second in command, was 
his nephew, James Ross, who had sailed with him on the first 
voyage to the Arctic, and had also accompanied Parry on all 
his voyages. Setting sail in May, 1829, with the avowed 
object of making, if possible, the Northwest Passage by some 
opening leading out of Regent Inlet, they neared the Dan- 
ish settlement of Holsteinborg, in Greenland, toward the last 
of July, where they received a most hospitable welcome fiom 
the governor. Their stores were replenished and certain 
other additions made, including six Eskimo dogs, a present 
from the governor. Sailing northward, they sighted the im- 



62 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

posing mountains of Disco Island, partially covered with 
snow, and later, Hare Island, which they found clear, ap- 
proaching latitude 74°, where the Hecla and Fury had been 
ice-bound in 1824. No ice whatever was encountered. Not 
without emotion, Captain Ross entered Lancaster Sound, 
the scene of his early blunder. Now he found scarcely any 
trace of ice, and he sailed through the middle of it, passing, on 
the 10th of August, Cape York, after which the land turns 
southward and, with the opposite coast of North Somerset 
(Boothia), forms the broad opening of Prince Regent Inlet. 
Some days later they passed the scene of the Fury's wreck. 
They examined the spot, and found that though the hull had 
entirely disappeared, the tents and poles were still standing. 
The canisters of preserved provisions were in perfect condition, 
also the wine, sugar, bread, flour, and, cocoa, and, after re- 
plenishing their own stores, they left a large quantity behind. 

By the middle of August they had crossed the mouth of 
Cresswell Bay and reached Cape Parry, the farthest point 
seen by Parry on his previous voyage, but here they found 
difficulty in navigating, owing to the compass being useless by 
proximity to the Magnetic Pole. Ice conditions also became 
alarming and obliged them to make fast to the drifting floes, 
which sometimes carried them forward, but more often back- 
ward, so that considerable time and distance was lost in this 
manner. In the few weeks remaining, before the winter 
cold held them ice-bound, Captain Ross explored some three 
hundred miles of coast land, going as far as Brentwell Bay, 
thirty miles beyond Cape Parry. Here Captain Ross went 
ashore and formally took possession in the king's name, call- 
ing this land Boothia. 

Wintering in Felix Harbor, the party had several occa- 
sions for intercourse with the Eskimos, from whom they 
gathered remarkable information regarding the geography 
of the country. This led Captain Ross to send out several 



JAMES CLAIiK ROSS 63 

expeditions, hoping to establish the possibility of a passage 
through to the west, when the summer should again free 
their ships, but after careful inspection it was concluded that 
their only hope was to the north. Though the observations 
were made from several distant points, and much valuable 
information collected, the months rolled by in hopeless suc- 
cession, with no apparent prospect of leaving this desolate 
spot. 

Not until the 17th of September were the ships free, and 
even then they advanced only three miles to find themselves 
blocked once more, and a few days later hopelessly frozen in 
for another dreary winter. Not until April, 1830, were any 
excursions attempted, and in one of these Commander 
James Clark Ross had the good fortune to discover the 
North Magnetic Pole in latitude 70° 5' 17", longitude 96° 
46' 45" W. 

"The place of the observatory," he writes, "was as near 
to the Magnetic Pole as the limited means which I possessed 
enabled me to determine. The amount of the dip, as indi- 
cated by my dipping-needle, was 89° 59', being thus within 
one minute of the vertical ; while the proximity at least of 
this pole, if not its actual existence where we stood, was fur- 
ther confirmed by the action, or rather by the total inaction, 
of the several horizontal needles then in my possession." 

"As soon," continues Commander Ross, "as I had satis- 
fied my own mind on the subject, I made known to the party 
this gratifying result of all our joint labors; and it was then that, 
amidst mutual congratulations, we fixed the British flag on the 
spot, and took possession of the North Magnetic Pole and its 
adjoining territory in the name of Great Britain and King 
William IV. We had abundance of materials for building 
in the fragments of limestone that covered the beach, and we 
therefore erected a cairn of some magnitude, under which we 
buried a canister containing a record of the interesting fact, 



64 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

only regretting that we had not the means of constructing a 
pyramid of more importance, and of strength sufficient to 
withstand the assaults of time and the Eskimos. Had it 
been a pyramid as large as that of Cheops, I am not quite 
sure that it would have done more than satisfy our ambi- 
tion under the feelings of that exciting day." 

The succeeding summer was hardly more encouraging 
than the previous one. Not until the last week in August 
were they successful in reaching open water by the labo- 
rious effort of warping and towing, and, after encountering 
gales and ice-floes, they were again fast in the ice by the 27th 
of September, after a discouraging navigation of only four 
miles. 

The thought of a third winter in the dreary Arctic had 
a most disheartening effect upon the crew. Their only hope 
of ultimately extricating themselves from their forlorn situ- 
ation was in abandoning the Victory, taking to their boats, 
and making their laborious way to the wreck of the Fury, 
where, supplying themselves with a fresh stock of provisions, 
they could push on to Davis Strait, in the hope of being 
picked up by a passing whale-ship. The general health of 
the men was showing a decline; scurvy showed itself as early 
as November of this trying year. 

By April 23, 1832, the first part of the expedition started 
on the wearisome journey of some three hundred miles to 
Fury Beach. Owing to the weight of the loads, combined 
with snow-drifts and ice barriers, it was necessary to go back 
and forward and cover the same ground several times ; thus 
after a month they had travelled three hundred and twenty- 
nine miles in this trying and circuitous manner to gain thirty 
in a direct line. 

On the 29th of May, final leave was taken of the Victory, 
her colours nailed to the mast, a parting glass drunk in her 
honour, and the brave old ship left to her Arctic loneliness. 



THE RETREAT 65 

Not until the first of July did the whole crew reach Fury 
Beach, after incredible obstacles had been encountered and 
overcome, the slow and laborious advance made more ardu- 
ous by the heavy loads they carried. 

Immediately, however, they set to work and reared a 
canvas shelter, which they called Somerset House. The 
following month was spent in fitting out their boats. An 
open sea now gave them hope of reaching, through Barrow 
Strait, to Baffin Bay. Icebergs and gales proved most dis- 
astrous to their hopes and, after making a heroic attempt, 
they found it necessary to return to Fury Beach and spend 
their fourth winter in the Arctic. 

The winter proved exceedingly severe, and their canvas 
shelter quite inadequate to keeping out the cold. However, 
matters were improved by a thick snow wall. Sickness, in 
the dreaded form of scurvy, caused much uneasiness, and in 
Februarjr, 1833, one of their number succumbed to the disease. 
Their situation had now become alarming, for if they were 
not liberated the following summer, there was little chance 
of any of their number surviving another year. 

As early in the season as it was possible to travel, they set 
forth on their life-and-death struggle for safety. Reduced in 
strength, many of the men being sick, the laborious process 
of advancing their loads was even slower than the pre- 
ceding year. However, by the 12th of July, they all reached 
their boat station in Batty Bay. Not until August 14 was 
a lane of water leading northward discovered, and, embarking 
at an early hour the following morning, they pursued their 
course with rising spirits. On the evening of the 16th, they 
were at the northeastern point of America with the open 
sea ahead of them. Icebergs were numerous, but their 
courage was gaining every moment, and they took small 
note of such obstacles. Passing through Barrow Strait, 
they made that day seventy-two miles. Delayed by con- 



66 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

trary winds, they did not reach Navy Board Inlet until the 
25th, where they harboured for the night. 

Early the following morning, they were aroused from 
sleep by the lookout man calling "a sail," but though they 
made every effort to reach this ship, it passed them by un- 
observed. At ten o'clock they sighted another vessel which 
was becalmed. By hard rowing they reached her and found 
her to be the Isabella of Hull, a ship in which Ross had made 
his first voyage to those seas. The captain and mate could 
hardly believe their eyes when Ross announced that he and 
his party were the survivors of the Victory, which had been 
given up for lost more than two years previously. Ross de- 
scribes the scene on board that followed : — 

"The ludicrous soon took the place of all other feelings; 
in such a crowd, and such confusion, all serious thought was 
impossible, while the new buoyancy of our spirits made us 
abundantly willing to be amused by the scene which now 
opened. Every man was hungry, and was to be fed ; all 
were ragged, and were to be clothed ; there was not one to 
whom washing was not indispensable ; nor one whom his 
beard did not deprive of all human semblance. All, every- 
thing, too, was to be done at once ; it was washing, shaving, 
dressing, eating, all intermingled ; it was all the materials of 
each jumbled together, while in the midst of all there were 
interminable questions to be asked and answered on both 
sides ; the adventures of the Victory, our own escapes, the poli- 
tics of England, and the news which was now four years old. 

"Night at length brought quiet and serious thoughts, and 
I trust there was not a man among us who did not then ex- 
press, where it was due, his gratitude for that interposition 
which had raised us all from a despair which none could now 
forget, and had brought us from the very borders of a most 
distant grave, to life and friends and civilization. Long ac- 
customed, however, to a cold bed on the hard snow or the 



LAND JOURNEY OF CAPTAIN BACK 67 

bare rocks, few could sleep amid the comfort of our new 
accommodations. I was myself compelled to leave the bed 
which had been kindly assigned me, and take my abode in 
a chair for the night, nor did it fare much better with the 
rest. It was for time to reconcile us to this sudden and 
violent change, to break through what had become habit, and 
inure us once more to the usages of our former days." 

After five years in the Arctic, Captain Ross and his crew 
were homeward bound, carrying with them a record un- 
precedented in Arctic history. Boothia Felix had been 
discovered; the connecting isthmus had been crossed to the 
mainland of America and explorations made in the direc- 
tion of Franklin Passage, Victoria Strait, and King William 
Sound; the Magnetic Pole had been located; and a series of 
most valuable observations kept during the entire period. 

Previous to his arrival in England, the prolonged absence 
of Captain Ross had caused great anxiety to his countrymen, 
and, although his expedition had been a private affair in no 
way connected with the Admiralt}* - , the government never- 
theless felt it to be a national concern that his fate and that 
of the crew should be ascertained if possible. 

Subscriptions were raised to promote a relief expedition, 
liberally added to from the public treasury, and an expedition 
fitted out in charge of Captain Back, who had volunteered his 
services, accompanied by the surgeon and naturalist, Dr. 
Richard King. With three men, they left Liverpool, Feb- 
ruary 17, 1833, on a packet-ship bound for New York, where 
they landed after a rough voyage of thirty-five days. From 
New York they went to Montreal, where they secured four 
more volunteers from the Royal Artillery Corps and some 
other assistants, and embarked on the St. Lawrence in two 
canoes. Making a brief stop at Sault Ste. Marie, for the 
purpose of purchasing a third canoe, they directed their 
course to the northern shores of Lake Superior. 



68 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

On May 20, they arrived at Fort William. By the first 
week in June, the canoes reached Fort Alexander at the 
southern extremity of Lake Winnipeg. Coasting this lake, 
Captain Back made for Norway House, where he secured his 
full complement of men, eighteen in all, and they started in 
high spirits for Fort Resolution, the eastern shore of the 
Great Slave Lake. The chief annoyance experienced on 
this long canoe trip was the torment from myriads of sand- 
flies and mosquitoes, of which Captain Back writes : — 

"How can I possibly give an idea of the torment we en- 
dured from the sand-flies ? As we dived into the confined 
and suffocating chasms, they rose in clouds, actually dark- 
ening the air ; to see or to speak was equally difficult, for 
they rushed at every undefended part, and fixed their poison- 
ous fangs in an instant. Our faces streamed with blood, as 
if leeches had been applied, and there was a burning and 
irritating pain, followed by immediate inflammation, and 
producing giddiness, which almost drove us mad, and caused 
us to moan with pain and agony." 

After securing all possible information from the Indians 
and others, relative to the course of the northern rivers of 
which he was in search, Captain Back divided his party. 
Leaving several under the escort of Mr. McLeod, an employee 
of the Hudson Bay Company, he proceeded with four men 
in search of the Great Fish River, later named after Back 
himself. 

On August 19, Captain Back began the ascent of the Hoar 
Frost River, and made his laborious way through woods, 
swamps, cascades, and rapids. From the summit of a high 
hill, Back discovered a beautiful lake, studded with islands, 
to which he gave the name of Aylmer Lake, after the governor- 
general of Canada at that time. Some of his men were de- 
spatched to investigate this lake, and in their absence Back 
accidentally discovered the source of the river which they 
had ascended, in Sand Hill Lake, 



LAND JOURNEY OF CAPTAIN BACK 69 

"For this occasion," he writes, "I had reserved a little 
grog, and need hardly say with what cheerfulness it was 
shared among the crew, whose welcome tidings had verified 
the notion of Dr. Richardson and myself, and thus placed 
beyond doubt the existence of the Thleu-ee-choh, or Great 
Fish River." 

Moving on, they found it was impossible to navigate Musk- 
Ox Lake in their frail canoes, owing to the force of the rapids. 
Reaching Clinton Golden Lake, they met with some friendly 
Indians. At Cat or Artillery Lake the canoes were aban- 
doned, and the rest of their return journey was made on foot 
over gorges, ravines, and precipitous rocks, where a false 
step would have proved fatal. 

Upon reaching Fort Reliance, they found Mr. McLeod 
had erected the framework of their winter quarters. All 
hands immediately turned to, and by the 5th of November 
they exchanged their cold tents for the more hospitable abode. 
The winter now set in with unusual severity. The unfor- 
tunate Indians of this locality came daily to the camp and 
implored food for themselves and their starving families. 
"Famine with her gaunt and bony arm," writes Back, "pur- 
sued them at every turn, withered their energies, and strewed 
them lifeless on the cold bosom of the snow. 

"It was impossible to afford relief to all, and the poor 
creatures would stand round while the men were taking their 
meals, watching every mouthful with the most pitiful, implor- 
ing look, but never uttering a word of complaint. Seated 
round the fire, they would take bits of their reindeer garments, 
roasting these and eagerly devouring them. A few hancl- 
fuls of mouldy pemmican intended for the dogs, was received 
with gratitude. 

"Often," adds Back, "did I share my own plate with the 
children whose helpless state and piteous cries were pecul- 
iarly distressing ; compassion for the full-grown may, or 



70 THE GBEAT WHITE NOBTH 

may not, be felt, but that heart must be cased in steel which is 
insensible to the cry of a child for food." 

On January 17 the thermometer stood at 70° below zero. 
Of this extreme cold Captain Back writes : — 

"Such indeed was the abstraction of heat, that with eight 
large logs of dry wood on the fire, I could not get the ther- 
mometer higher than 12° below zero. Ink and paint froze, 
the sextant cases and boxes of seasoned wood, principally 
fir, all split. The skin of the hands became dry, cracked, and 
opened into unsightly, smarting gashes, which we were 
obliged to anoint with grease. On one occasion after washing 
my face within three feet of the fire, my hair was actually 
clotted with ice before I had time to dry it." 

Had it not been for the timely assistance of Akaitcho, a 
friendly Indian chief who had arrived with a supply of men 
and who brought them game, their sufferings might have 
had a disastrous ending, but this old brave expressed his senti- 
ments in the noble words : — 

"The great chief trusts us, and it is better that ten Indians 
perish than one white man should perish through our negli- 
gence and breach of faith." 

With the approach of spring, Captain Back began prepara- 
tions for his intended journey to the sea-coast, but on April 25 
a messenger arrived with the welcome news that Captain 
Ross and the survivors of the Victory were alive and had 
arrived safely in England. Extracts from the Times and 
Herald were shown Captain Back to confirm the news. 

"In the fulness of our hearts, we assembled and humbly 
offered up our thanks to that merciful Providence, which, in 
the beautiful language of the Scripture, hath said, 'Mine 
own will I bring again, as I did some time from the deeps of 
the sea.' The thoughts of so wonderful a preservation over- 
powered for a time the common occurrences of life. We had 
just sat down to breakfast: but our appetite was gone, and the 



VICTORIA LAND 71 

day was passed in a feverish state of excitement. Seldom, 
indeed, did my friend Mr. King or I indulge in a libation, but 
on this joyful occasion, economy was forgotten, a treat was 
given to the men, and for ourselves the social sympathies 
were quenched by a generous bowl of punch." 

The four months spent in the remarkable journey of Cap- 
tain Back and his men to the Polar Sea are one continual 
recital of hairbreadth escapes in the falls, rapids, and cata- 
racts of the Thleu-ee-choh, and of the incredible suffering 
and hardship bravely endured by all hands. In describing 
one of their narrow escapes, where the boat was obliged to be 
lightened to shoot the rapids, Captain Back writes : — 

"I stood on a high rock, with an anxious heart, to see her 
run it. Away they went with the speed of an arrow, and in a 
moment, the foam and rocks hid them from view. I heard 
what sounded in my ear like a wild shriek ; I followed with an 
agitation which may be conceived, and to my inexpressible 
joy, found that the shriek was the triumphant whoop of the 
crew, who had landed safely in a small bay below." 

On the 29th, while threading their course down the great 
river, they saw headlands to the north which gave them the 
assurance that the coast was not far distant. To this majestic 
promontory, Back gave the name Victoria. 

"This then," he writes, "may be considered as the mouth 
of the Thleu-ee-choh, which after a violent and tortuous course 
of five hundred and thirty geographical miles, running through 
an iron ribbed country, without a single tree on the whole line 
of its banks, expanding into five large lakes, with clear horizon 
most embarrassing to the navigator, and broken into falls, 
cascades, and rapids, to the number of eighty-three in the 
whole, pours its water into the Polar Sea, in latitude 67° 11' N., 
and longitude 94° 30' W., that is to say, about thirty-seven 
miles more south than the mouth of the Coppermine River, 
and nineteen miles more south than that of Back's River, at 
the lower extremity of Bathhurst's Inlet." 



72 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The following days were a succession of incredible hardships, 
the result of the damp weather, the barrenness of the coast, 
and the soft snow and slush into which the men plunged knee- 
deep at every step. No fire could be lighted, and in conse- 
quence they had no means of securing warmth or cooked food ; 
the men became low-spirited and discouraged. The country 
was flat and desolate, an "irregular plain of sand and stones ; 
and had it not been for a rill of water, the meandering of 
which relieved the monotony of the sterile scene, one might 
have fancied one's self in one of the parched plains of the East, 
rather than on the shore of the Arctic Sea." 

Making a heroic advance, Back discovered and named 
Point Ogle and Point Richardson, caught a sight of Boothia 
Felix, and then having reached latitude 68° 13' 57" N., longi- 
tude 94° 58' 1" W., he unfurled the British flag and took 
formal possession in the name of His Majesty, William IV, 
amid the enthusiastic cheers of his comrades. They left the 
cold Arctic shores the middle of August, and not until the 17th 
of September did they meet Mr. McLeod at Sandy Hill Bay, 
according to appointment, and with him reached Fort Re- 
liance on the 27th. 

A second winter was passed in the wilderness of the inhos- 
pitable north, devoted by Back and Dr. King to writing their 
journals, mapping their discoveries, and arranging their 
scientific data, the crew occupying themselves in hunting and 
fishing expeditions. 

The last of March, Captain Back, having left instructions 
for Dr. King to proceed as soon as the weather would permit 
to the company's factory at Hudson Bay, there to embark 
for England in their spring ships, proceeded through Canada, 
and by way of New York to England, where he arrived at 
Liverpool the 8th of September. Dr. King reached England 
a month later. 

For this remarkable discovery and voyage down the Great 



SIMPSON AND DEASE 73 

Fish River, Captain Back received from the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society their Royal premium (a gold medal). In 
1835 he was knighted, having already had the congratulations 
and approbation of His Majesty, the King. 

The following year Captain Back made another Arctic 
voyage, in command of the ship Terror, up Hudson Strait. 
Unfortunately the ship got fast in the ice off Cape Comfort, 
and there remained at the mercy of the destructive ice-pack 
through a dreary winter until the following July. She had 
become so disabled that she was barely equal to crossing the 
Atlantic, but the return voyage was fortunately accomplished 
in safety. 

In 1836 the Hudson Bay Company, desiring to complete 
the survey of their northern territories, especially the coast- 
line of Arctic America, sent out two of their employees, 
Dease and Simpson, with a party of twelve men. 

Descending the Mackenzie River to the sea, they surveyed 
the westward shore-line between Return Reef and Cape 
Barrow. Two large rivers were discovered, the Garry and 
Coleville. Though the season was midsummer, the ground 
was frozen, and northeasterly winds made progress very 
trying. 

By the 1st of August, further navigation proved imprac- 
ticable and, dividing the party, Simpson, with some of the 
men, continued the journey on foot, and Dease remained with 
the rest of the crew in charge of the boats. Simpson fell in 
with Eskimos, of whom he hired an oomiak, a large canoe, to 
aid him as occasion demanded. A few days later he writes : — 

"I saw with indescribable emotions Point Barrow stretch- 
ing out to the northward and enclosing Elson Bay, near the 
bottom of which we were now," Lieutenant Elson having 
been in charge of the Blossom's barge which reached this 
"farthest" in 1826. Upon the return of Simpson the party 
took up winter quarters at Great Bear Lake. 



74 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The following June they descended the Coppermine, where, 
in shooting the rapids, they "had to pull for their lives, to 
keep out of the suction of the precipices, along whose base the 
breakers raged and foamed, with overwhelming fury. Shortly 
before noon, we came in sight of Escape Rapid, of Franklin ; 
and a glance at the overhanging cliffs told us that there was 
no alternative but to run down with full cargo." "In an 
instant," continues Simpson, "we were in the vortex; and, 
before we were aware, my boat was borne toward an isolated 
rock, which the boiling surge almost concealed. To clear 
it on the outside was no longer possible ; our only chance of 
safety was to run between it and the lofty eastern cliff. The 
word was passed and every breath was hushed. A stream 
which dashed down upon us over the brow of the precipice, 
more than one hundred feet in height, mingled with the spray 
that whirled upwards from the rapid, forming a terrific shower- 
bath. The pass was about eight feet wide, and the error of 
a single foot on either side would have been instant destruc- 
tion. As, guided by Sinclair's consummate skill, the boat 
shot safely through those jaws of death, an involuntary cheer 
arose. 

"Our next impulse was to turn round to view the fate of 
our comrades behind. They had profited by the peril we 
incurred, and kept without the treacherous rock in time." 

Hardly had they reached the coast before they were stopped 
by the ice, and hopelessly delayed many days. The season 
was rapidly advancing, and yet no real work had been accom- 
plished. On the 20th of August, Simpson and seven men 
started on a ten days' walk to the eastward of Boathaven. 
Progress was both difficult and discouraging. On the 23d 
they reached an elevated cape, beyond which further progress 
was impossible. Of this scene Simpson writes : — 

"I ascended the height, from whence a vast and splendid 
project burst suddenly upon me. The sea, as if transformed 



rae's overland journey 15 

by enchantment, rolled its free waves at my feet, and beyond 
the reach of vision to the eastward. Islands of various shapes 
and sizes overspread its surface, and the northern land ter- 
minated to the eye in a bold and lofty cape, bearing east- 
northeast, thirty or forty miles distant, while the continental 
coast trended away southeast. I stood, in fact, on a remark- 
able headland, at the eastern outlet of an ice-obstructed 
strait. On the extensive land to the northward, I bestowed 
the name of our most gracious sovereign, Queen Victoria. 
Its eastern visible extremity I called Cape Pelly, in comple- 
ment of the governor of the Hudson Bay Company." 

In 1839, Simpson and Dease made a more successful jour- 
ney. The ice conditions being better, they sailed through 
the strait that separates Victoria Land from the mainland. 
They pushed on to Simpson Strait, which divides Boothia 
from the mainland, and later doubled Point Ogle. Upon 
reaching Montreal Island in Back's Estuary, they found 
certain provisions left there by Captain Back five years 
before. On the 25th of August, 1839, they erected a cairn at 
their farthest point near Cape Herschel. 

Exploring 150 miles of the shores of Victoria Land as far as 
Cape Parry and the Bays of Wellington, Cambridge, and 
Byron, they crossed Coronation Gulf and finally reentered the 
Coppermine River, after a voyage of more than 1600 miles in 
the Polar Sea. For his remarkable achievements, Simpson 
was awarded the Founder's Gold Medal of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society of London. 

In 1846, the Hudson Bay Company fitted out another 
expedition to be sent into the field for the purpose of survey- 
ing the northeast corner of the American mainland ; the 
mouth of the Castor and Pollux to the Gulf of Akkolee, so as 
to link the discoveries of Dease and Simpson and those of the 
second voyages of Ross and Parry. 

An employee of the company, Dr. John Rae, was chosen for 



76 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

this purpose and put in command of twelve men. Dr. Rae 
is described as a man of unusual attainments, a surgeon, 
astronomer, an able steersman ; combining with his abilities 
for leadership the accomplishments of a first-rate snow-shoe 
walker and dead shot. 

After a canoe trip of two months' duration, the party 
arrived at York Factory early in October. Here they passed 
the winter, and, as soon as the weather would permit, set sail 
in two boats, and skirted the shores of Hudson Bay. 

At Fort Churchill they found natives engaged in capturing 
white whales, which make their way to these waters. They 
secured the services of two Eskimos, father and son, Oolig- 
buck by name, who accompanied the expedition as inter- 
preters. 

In passing Chesterfield Inlet, they heard the grunting and 
bellowing of walruses, "making a noise," says Rae, "which I 
fancy would much resemble a concert of old boars and buffa- 
loes." At Republic Bay they bought sealskin boots from the 
Eskimos, and of the incident Rae says, "One of our female 
visitors took them out of my hands, and began chewing them 
with her strong teeth, for the purpose of softening up the 
leather." 

Proceeding on their toilsome journey, they traced the coast 
from Lord Mayor Bay to within ten miles of Fury and Hecla 
Straits, confirming Captain Ross in his statement that Boothia 
was a peninsula ; and not returning to York Factory until 
September, 1847. 

Their long winter was spent at Repulse Bay, where they 
built a stone house and procured provisions by hunting and 
fishing. Dr. Rae, being an excellent shot, secured in one day 
as many as seven deer within two miles of their shelter. 
In the month of September, sixty-three deer, five hares, one 
seal, one hundred and seventy-two partridge, and one hundred 
and sixteen salmon and trout were secured. By the middle of 



rae's overland journey 77 

October the deer became scarce, but two hundred partridges 
were secured, also a few salmon, so that by the time all game 
had migrated, they had a fairly well-stocked larder. How- 
ever, the question of fuel was a vexing one, as there was no 
wood to speak of, but the capture of two seals supplied them 
with oil for their lamps. 

Toward February it was found necessary to limit the men 
to one meal a day. 

As the spring advanced, they made a series of journeys. 
Of these Dr. Rae describes making camp after a fatiguing 
day's travel : — 

"Our usual mode of preparing lodgings for the night was 
as follows : As soon as we had selected a spot for our snow- 
house, our Eskimos, assisted by one or more of the men, com- 
menced cutting out blocks of snow. AVhen a sufficient num- 
ber of these had been raised, the builder commenced his work, 
his assistants supplying him with material. A good roomy 
dwelling was thus raised in an hour, if the snow was in a good 
state for building. Whilst our principal mason was thus 
occupied, another of the party was busy erecting a kitchen, 
which, although our cooking was none of the most delicate 
or extensive, was still a necessary addition to our establish- 
ment, had it been only to thaw snow. As soon as the snow- 
hut was completed, our sledges were unloaded, and every 
eatable (including parchment-skin and moose-skin shoes, 
which had become now favorite articles with the dogs) taken 
inside. Our bed was next made, and, by the time the snow 
was thawed or the water boiled, as the case might be, we were 
all ready for supper. When we used alcohol for fuel (which 
we usually did in stormy weather) no kitchen was required." 

After days of exposure and hardship, Dr. Rae writes : — 

"We were again on the march, and arrived at our home at 
half past eight p.m., all well, but so black and scarred on the 
face, from the combined effects of oil, smoke, and frost-bites, 



78 THE GREAT WHITE NOBTH 

that our friends would not believe but that some serious acci- 
dent from the explosion of gunpowder had happened to us. 
Thus successfully terminated a journey little short of six 
hundred English miles, the longest, I believe, ever made on 
foot along the Arctic coast." 

Of another trip made in May, Dr. Rae writes : — 
"Our journey hitherto had been the most fatiguing I had 
ever experienced ; the severe exercise, with a limited allowance 
of food, had reduced the whole party very much. However, 
we marched merrily on, tightening our belts, — mine came in 
six inches, — the men vowing that when they got on full allow- 
ance they would make up for lost time." 

By the last of August, 1847, the party returned to civili- 
zation, where Dr. Rae was awarded four hundred pounds by 
the Hudson Bay Company for his important services. 



CHAPTER VI 

Sir John Franklin. — Early life. — First land expedition of 1819-1821. 
— Journey from York Factory to Cumberland House. — Reach 
Fort Providence. — Winter at Fort Enterprise. — Explorations. 
— 5550 miles. — Hardship. — Starvation. — Return. — Second 
land journey. — 1825. — Winter quarters at Great Bear Lake. — 
Descent of the Mackenzie River to the Polar Sea. — 1200 miles of 
coast added to map. — The last journey of Sir John Franklin, 
1845. — The Ere us and Terror. — Last seen in Melville Bay. 

No name holds more romantic association with Arctic 
history than that of Sir John Franklin. What a career, what 
love of adventure, what hardships endured with heroic for- 
titude, what leadership that could inspire others to passionate 
loyalty, and superhuman endurance under unspeakable trials, 
and what a fate ! 

Let us review briefly a life that stands in the foremost 
rank of naval history, not so much by great achievement, as 
by that particular charm of character, indefinable and subtle, 
that is based on those great qualities of tolerance, justice, 
loyalty, simplicity, and warm affections. 

John Franklin, the youngest son of twelve children, was 
born in the small market town of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, April 
16, 1786. He was early destined for the church and educated 
at St. Ives, and later at Louth Grammar School. A holiday 
jaunt with a young companion, twelve miles to the shores of 
the North Sea, with its overwhelming grandeur, changed his 
career and decided him for the life of a sailor. 

The shrewd old father, with that acute knowledge of the 
short-lived enthusiasms of youth, put him to test, and at four- 

79 



80 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

teen years of age young John served on a merchantman 
bound for Lisbon. Undaunted by the hard berth of a sailor 
lad, we find him in 1801 on the quarter-deck of the Pole- 
phemus, under Captain Lanford, leading in line at the battle 
of Copenhagen, Lord Nelson's hardest fought battle. 

His iron will, ever more firm in its determination for a life 
of adventure, secured him later a berth in the discovery ship 
Investigator, exploring the coast of Australia, where Franklin 
acquired valuable astronomical and surveying skill under his 
able relative, Captain Flinders. 

Transferred to the Porpoise, which, in company with the 
Cato, was wrecked on a coral reef off the coast of Australia, 
August 18, 1803, the lad, with one hundred and fifty others, 
spent fifty days on a strip of sand only four feet above water. 
Captain Flinders, after making his way 250 leagues to Port 
Jackson in an open boat, rescued his companions. Franklin 
finally reached Canton, where he secured passage to England 
in the Earl Camden, East-Indiaman, under Sir Nathaniel 
Dance, commodore of the China fleet. 

An engagement with the French squadron occurred in 
February, 1804, at which young Franklin rendered valuable 
service as signal midshipman. On his return to England he 
was assigned to the Bellerophon. At the battle of Trafalgar, 
he gallantly stood on the poop, with the dead and dying falling 
beside him, attending to the signals, with a coolness and accu- 
racy that won him the unstinted admiration of his comrades. 

For the next two years he served under Admirals Corn- 
wallis, St. Vincent, and Stratham ; then for six years in 
the Bedford. 

In the disastrous attack upon New Orleans, Franklin com- 
manded the boats in a fight with the enemy's gunboats ; he 
captured one of them and suffered a slight wound in the 
shoulder in a hand-to-hand encounter. 

He was promoted to first lieutenant for gallant service and 



SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 81 

assigned to the Forth, which, after the abdication of Napoleon 
and the restoration of the Bourbons, conveyed the Duchess 
d'Angouleme back to France. 

It is not surprising that after such a varied and distinguished 
career, Franklin should be one of the first to enter with whole- 
souled enthusiasm into the renewed interest shown by Eng- 
land in Arctic discovery and exploration. 

Of the Buchan expedition in which Franklin was second in 
command, we already know the history. The succeeding ex- 
peditions, though spoken of as failures in their main object, 
won for him a renown quite unique in Arctic honours, and the 
last, so tragically fatal in its results, did more, through the 
numberless searching parties sent out to discover news of the 
missing ships, to extend the world's scientific knowledge and 
geographical accuracy of Arctic America, than could possibly 
have been accomplished had the expedition been a success. 

Before taking up in detail the journeys of Sir John Franklin, 
it might be well to make note of a side-light in his remarkable 
character. To this man a career meant the paramount ambi- 
tion of life, a passion stronger than the love of woman, of 
family, of home or physical comforts. After the return of 
the Buchan and Franklin expedition, the gentle poetess, 
Anne Porden, who had written "Viels, or Triumph of Con- 
stancy," the "Cceur de Lion," and a short poem on the Arctic 
expedition just returned, visited the Trent and met the gallant 
John Franklin in the full blush of his youthful manhood. He 
fell in love, and upon his return from his first land expedition, 
in 1823, they were married, but with the distinct understand- 
ing that sweet Anne should "never, under any circumstances, 
seek to turn her husband aside from the duty he owed his 
country and his career." And she kept her word, but at 
what sacrifice ! 

In June of the following year a daughter was born to them, 
but the mother never regained her health ; a few months 



82 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

later, putting in John Franklin's hand a silken flag to be carried 
north to victory, the work of her dying fingers, she coura- 
geously bade him God-speed, and he started, amid the applause 
of an enthusiastic nation, upon that second journey — little 
guessing she, too, was about to embark upon the great un- 
known. 

"My instructions, in substance," writes Franklin of the 
first land expedition of 1819-1821, "informed me that the 
main object of the expedition was that of determining the 
latitude and longitude of the northern coast of North America, 
and the trending of that coast from the mouth of the Copper- 
mine River to the eastern extremity of that continent." 

He was authorized to take counsel with the Hudson Bay 
officials, and plan his course accordingly. In fact, much was 
left to his own discretion, and before leaving England he was 
fortunate enough to go over the details of the proposed jour- 
ney with Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the only living English 
explorer who had visited that coast. 

Accompanied by Dr. Richardson, surgeon and naturalist 
(later Sir John Richardson), Admiralty Midshipman George 
Back (later Sir George Back), Robert Hood, and another 
Englishman, John Hepburn, Franklin sailed from Gravesend 
in the Prince of Wales, May 23, 1819. 

On reaching York Factory, the principal depot of the Hud- 
son Bay Company, he found an unfortunate state of affairs 
existing between them and the Northwest Company. A 
bitter rivalry had resulted in the detention at York Factory 
of certain partners of the other company, and the result of 
this unfortunate quarrel had serious results upon his own 
future. 

He was advised to make for Cumberland House, and later 
through a chain of posts to the shores of Great Slave Lake. 
With only one steersman and a boat so small that many of 
the provisions were in consequence left behind, Franklin made 



JOURNEY TO CUMBERLAND HOUSE 83 

his start up the Hayes River, September 9. Sailing was fre- 
quently varied by the arduous labour of tracking, and not un- 
frequently a portage was found necessary, which added to the 
fatigues and discouragements of the day. 

At one of the outposts of the Hudson Bay Company, they 
were again obliged to leave some of their stores under promise 
that these would be forwarded in the spring, and later, at 
Swampy Lake, the tenants of the depot gave them a supply of 
mouldy pemmican, which of course had to be thrown away 
later. Thus from the outset the expedition laboured under the 
fatal handicap of insufficient stores. 

At Oxford House, Holy Lake, they secured some good 
pemmican and also fish, and, as the season was advancing, 
they pushed onward. They finally reached the mouth of the 
Saskatchewan, and, following the river, they first arrived at 
Little River, then Pine Island Lake, and at last, on October 23, 
Cumberland House. Already ice had impeded their journey, 
and tiere they determined to winter, at the invitation of Gov- 
ernor Williams. 

Impatient to be on his way, and desirous of securing 
guides, hunters, interpreters, and stores for the journey to the 
sea, Franklin, accompanied by Back and Hepburn, started, 
January 19, 1820, for Fort Chipewyan, with provisions for 
fifteen days. After a winter's journey of eight hundred and 
fifty-seven miles, they reached their destination. 

The various posts at which they stopped supplied them with 
only a limited amount of provisions, and the prospect of secur- 
ing more was most discouraging. Sickness of the Indians 
in the hunting season foretold a scarcity for the following 
spring; moreover, the rivalry of the fur companies and the 
lavish expenditure of their stores in opposition tactics had 
resulted in greatly depleted food supply, so that provisions 
expressly intended for Franklin were later consumed before 
reaching him. 



84 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The travellers had suffered greatly from the unaccustomed 
use of snow-shoes, the weight of several pounds of snow 
clinging to the shoes having galled and lamed their feet. 
Yet the journey had not been considered as wearing as that 
from York Factory to Cumberland House. 

The return of geese, ducks, and swans, together with the 
melting of the snow and ice, now gave indications of approach- 
ing spring. Mr. Hood writes of this time : — 

"The noise made by the frogs, which this inundation pro- 
duced, is almost incredible. There is strong reason to be- 
lieve that they outlive the severity of winter. They have 
often been found frozen, and revived by warmth ; nor is it 
possible that the multitude which incessantly filled our 
ears with their discordant notes could have been matured in 
two or three days." 

Speaking of the resuscitation of fish, Franklin writes : — 

"If in this completely frozen state, they were thawed be- 
fore the fire, they recovered their animation. This was par- 
ticularly the case with the carp, and we had occasion to ob- 
serve it repeatedly, as Dr. Richardson occupied himself in 
examining the structure of the different species of fish, and was 
always in the winter under the necessity of thawing them 
before he could cut them. We have seen a carp recover so 
far as to leap about with much vigor after it had been 
frozen thirty-six hours." 

Richardson and Hood now joined Franklin, and the party 
increased by sixteen Canadian voyageurs, a Chipewyan 
woman, and two interpreters, made their way northward. 
It was now the middle of July, and their whole stock of pro- 
visions consisted of hardly more than one day's supply. 
Fortunately they soon added a buffalo, and at Moose Deer 
Island they got some supplies from the Hudson Bay and 
Northwest Company officers. 

About the last of July they reached Fort Providence. 



WINTER AT FORT ENTERPRISE 85 

From the Indian chief Akaitcho they secured guides, the 
party having been increased to twenty-nine, exclusive of 
three children. A journey of five hundred and fifty-two 
miles was accomplished, with no little hardship. Lack of 
food and other privation caused the Canadian voyageurs to 
break out in open mutiny. At Fort Enterprise winter quar- 
ters were established. 

Early in October, Back and a party returned to Fort 
Providence to arrange for the transportation of stores ex- 
pected from Cumberland House. The stores were anx- 
iously awaited, and it was hoped they would arrive by New 
Year's Day, 1821. In the meantime the party were sub- 
sisting for the most part on reindeer meat, fish twice a 
week, and a little flour. The middle of January seven of 
Back's party returned, bringing with them as many stores 
as they could haul. 

A little later Back returned, having performed on foot 
the remarkable journey of more than eleven hundred miles 
on snow-shoes, sleeping in the open, with only the protection 
of a blanket and a deerskin, the thermometer frequently at 
40° and once at 57° below zero, — and passing several days 
without food. 

The failure of the great fur companies to keep their con- 
tracts had resulted in almost no provisions being secured. At 
Fort Enterprise it was now found necessary to curtail ra- 
tions to the most meagre amount, and many of the Indian 
families camped about the house were obliged to satisfy the 
cravings of hunger with bones, deer's feet, and bits of other 
offal. 

"When," says Franklin, "we beheld them gnawing the 
pieces of hide, and pounding the bones for the purpose of 
extracting some nourishment from them by boiling, we 
regretted our inability to relieve them, but little thought 
that we ourselves should be afterwards driven to the neces- 



86 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

sity of eagerly collecting these same bones, a second time, 
from the dung-hill." 

In July, 1821, the expedition having dragged canoes 
and baggage with fifteen days' provisions to the bank of 
the Coppermine, embarked upon the main object of the 
enterprise. By the 25th they had doubled Cape Barrow, 
and its eastern side they named Inman Harbor, The 
dangers and discouragements that beset Arctic travellers 
soon fell to their lot. Their stock of food, replenished with a 
few deer, soon became exhausted, and the ration issued to 
each man was a meagre handful of pemmican and a small 
portion of soup. 

By the 5th of August, they had reached the Back River 
and then explored Melville Sound and Bathurst Inlet. 
Having reached Point Turnagain, and meeting with no Es- 
kimos who could replenish their provisions, Franklin was 
obliged to turn back, having sailed nearly six hundred geo- 
graphical miles in tracing the irregular shore of Coronation 
Gulf from the Coppermine River. 

Reduced to the last extremity for want of food, the last 
bit of pemmican and arrowroot having formed a scanty sup- 
per, and without means of making a fire, the forlorn party 
spent the fifth day of September in bed while a snowstorm 
raged above them and drifted into their tent, covering their 
thin blankets several inches. Of this day writes Franklin : — 

"Our suffering from cold, in a comfortless canvas tent in 
such weather with the temperature at 20°, and without fire, 
will easily be imagined ; it was, however, less than that 
which we felt from hunger." 

For two days they lived on a lichen known as tripe de 
roche, and on the 10th "they got a good meal by killing a 
musk-ox. To skin and cut up the animal was the work of 
a few minutes. The contents of its stomach were devoured 
upon the spot; raw intestines, which were next attacked, 



STARVATION 87 

were pronounced by the most delicate amongst us to be ex- 
cellent." 

The effects of suffering and famine began to show them- 
selves in the improvidence and indifference of the men. 
Three fishing-nets were left behind, and one of the canoes 
broken and abandoned. Mosses, an occasional partridge, 
tripe de roche, bits of singed hide, and such marrow as could 
be extracted from finds of bones of animals formed their only- 
diet. 

Though weak and lame, Back pushed forward in search of 
relief. One by one the starving men fell by the wayside. 
Hood, suffering from the effects of tripe de roche, which never 
agreed with him, became too exhausted to proceed, and Dr. 
Richardson volunteered to remain with him. As one by one 
the various members dropped down with fatigue, only five 
besides Franklin were left in the advance party. These con- 
tinued their weary pilgrimage, cheered with the hope that at 
Fort Enterprise would be found shelter and the much-needed 
supplies which had been promised them. Alas ! their grief 
and disappointment may be imagined upon entering this 
wretched depot to find it desolate and without a vestige 
of provisions. 

"It would be impossible," says Franklin, "to describe our 
sensations after entering this miserable abode, and discover- 
ing how we had been neglected ; the whole party shed 
tears, not so much for our own fate as for that of our friends 
in the rear whose lives depended entirely on our sending im- 
mediate relief from this place." 

To their surprise they found a note - from Back stating 
that he had reached the shelter two days before by another 
route and had immediately pressed on in hope of finding the 
Indians, and if not, he would direct his steps to Fort Provi- 
dence, though he doubted if he and his party could reach 
there in their present unfortunate condition. 



88 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

Franklin and his men gathered together what could be 
used as food and found several ' deerskins that had been 
thrown away the previous year and a few bones gathered 
from the refuse heap. These, with tripe de roche, they made 
into a soup and endeavoured to support life on the putrid 
mass. Later on one more member of the party came in, and 
a day or two after a man named Balanger of Back's party 
reached camp in all but a dying condition. He had fallen 
into a rapid, had come near drowning, and was then speech- 
less from exhaustion and exposure. When warmed, dry 
clothing put on, and given a little soup, he was sufficiently 
restored to answer questions. 

Back had not found the Indians and was making for Fort 
Providence. Thither Franklin determined to follow him 
with two of his men, the others volunteering to remain 
until succour should be sent to them. Owing to an un- 
fortunate accident to his snow-shoes, Franklin was obliged 
to return to camp the next day, sending on his companions 
alone. 

The poor wretches that had been left at Fort Enterprise 
were in such a weakened st? ' +hat it was with difficulty that 
Franklin could rouse them to any e~ 'ion. 

"We saw," writes Franklin, "a hu a of reindeer sporting 
on the river, about half a mile from the house ; they re- 
mained there a long time, but none of the party felt them- 
selves strong enough to go after them, nor was there one of 
us who could have fired a gun without resting it." 

Eighteen long days passed slowly by, during which they 
endured frightful privations, when Dr. Richardson and 
Hepburn reached them, greatly enfeebled and emaciated. 
"The doctor particularly remarked the sepulchral tones of 
our voices, which he requested of us to make more cheerful, 
if possible, unconscious that his own partook of the same key." 
Hepburn divided a partridge he had shot and, says Frank- 



FRANKLIN S SECOND JOURNEY 89 

I'm, "I and my three companions ravenously devoured our 
shares, as it was the first morsel of flesh any of us had tasted 
for thirty-one days, unless, indeed, the small, gristly particles 
which we found occasionally adhering to the pounded bones 
may be called flesh." 

Dr. Richardson then told of the tragic death of Hood, who 
had been murdered by the Iroquois, Michel, whose threaten- 
ing demeanour they had noted for some days, and whom they 
afterwards suspected of having put an end to two other 
members of the party. Under the circumstances, as a mat- 
ter of self-preservation, it was deemed necessary to end the 
Indian's life, and this Dr. Richardson did with a pistol- 
shot. 

The day after the arrival of Richardson and Hepburn, two 
of the party died. Finally, early in November, Indian 
messengers sent by Back brought the longed-for relief, the 
Indians "evincing humanity that would have done honor 
to the most civilized people." When the party were suffi- 
ciently restored to health with food and kind nursing, they 
started for Fort Chipewyan, where they remained until June 
of the following year. In Ju 1 they reached York Factory, 
whence three years h **re they had started out. 

In this remarkab. journey of over five thousand five 
hundred and fifty miles, human endurance and patience had 
been put to the uttermost test; the wonderful courage and 
fortitude with which these heroes braved a fate that threat- 
ened them at every step, make this one of the most remark- 
able feats in Arctic history. 

A more cheerful picture presents itself in Franklin's second 
voyage, and, though fortunately not so tragic as the first, it 
nevertheless demonstrates his remarkable leadership. 

In conjunction with the Beechey expedition in the Blossom 
and Parry's expedition with the Hecla and Fury, a third ex- 
pedition was promoted and, upon request of Franklin, put 



90 TEE GEE AT WRITE NORTH 

under his charge. The outline of operations was for this 
party to descend the Mackenzie River to the sea, and there 
to divide the force, one section to explore the coast east to 
the Coppermine, while the other should take a westerly 
course and round Ice Cape and, if possible, Behring Strait. 
Profiting by past experience, the party were amply pro- 
visioned from the outset; in fact, a delay of some months 
was required to secure the necessary amount of pemmican. 

Undaunted by the hardships endured on the previous 
voyage, Back and Richardson volunteered again to accom- 
pany Franklin ; Mr. Kendall, a mate in the navy, and Mr. 
T. Drummond, a naturalist, were also of the party. Four 
carefully constructed boats were sent ahead in one of the 
Hudson Bay Company's ships, and in July, 1825, the 
Franklin party reached Fort Chipewyan. 

They reached Great Bear Lake without incident, and there 
erected winter quarters under the direction of Back and 
Dease, the latter being detailed by the Hudson Bay Company 
to assist the expedition. Although the season was well 
advanced, Franklin set out, with a small party, to make a 
six-day journey down the Mackenzie for the purpose of 
examining the state of the Polar Sea. They reached an 
island to which he gave the name of Garry Island, and as- 
cended the summit, from which "the sea appeared in all its 
majesty, entirely free from ice, and without any visible 
obstructions to its navigation, and never was a prospect 
more gratifying than that which lay open to us." Here 
the silken Union Jack made by the hands of Anne Porden 
was unfurled, the news of whose death had but lately reached 
her husband. 

"I will not," writes Franklin, "attempt to describe my 
emotions as it expanded to the breeze." 

By the 7th of September the party had returned to Fort 
Franklin, and the long winter was passed in comparative 



DESCENT OF THE MACKENZIE RIVER 91 

comfort. Every effort was made to amuse and interest the 
men, the entire number consisting of nearly fifty, including 
guides, interpreters, Canadian voyageurs, and Indians. 

The following June, 1826, preparations were made for the 
important work of the expedition. Descending the Mac- 
kenzie in four boats to the Polar Sea, the party here divided, 
Captain Franklin and Lieutenant Back with fourteen men 
pushing to the westward, Dr. Richardson with Mr. Kendall 
assisted by ten men in two boats going in an easterly direc- 
tion toward the Coppermine River. 

Soon after parting, Franklin's party had an unfortunate 
encounter with Eskimos, who pillaged their stores and 
caused them considerable annoyance. Making his way 
westward, he encountered dirty weather and penetrating 
fogs, which kept the poor shivering men perpetually en- 
veloped in moisture. However, he reached latitude 70° 24' 
N., longitude 149° 37' W., which point of land he named 
after Lieutenant Back. He had surveyed three hundred and 
seventy-four miles of coast. 

It was now deemed advisable to return, and by September 
31 the party reached Fort Franklin, where Richardson and 
his party had returned some days earlier after a successful 
voyage of five hundred miles, or nine hundred and two by the 
coast-line. 

The party under Richardson had been favoured with good 
weather, and, though detained by an occasional storm, were 
on the whole most fortunate. One of these shelters, Refuge 
Cove, Dr. Richardson describes : — 

"Myriads of mosquitoes, which reposed among the grass, 
rose in clouds when disturbed, and gave us much annoyance. 
Many snow birds were hatching on the point ; and we saw 
swans, Canada geese, eider, king, Arctic, and surf ducks ; 
several glaucous, silvery, black-headed, and ivory gulls, 
together with terns and northern divers. Some laughing 



92 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

geese passed to the northward in the evening, which may be 
considered as a sure indication of land in that direction." 

During the second winter passed at Fort Franklin, the 
thermometer fell as low as 58° below zero. The Englishmen 
spent their time in making scientific observations and com- 
pleting their data and records. Food and warmth, com- 
bined with good health, made it pass comparatively quickly, 
and in the spring the party made their way back to England. 

Honours of the most distinguished character awaited Frank- 
lin upon his return. To the map of North America he had 
added no less than twelve hundred miles, for which the nation 
rendered him enthusiastic applause. In 1829 he was knighted, 
Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.C.L., and the 
Geographical Society of Paris awarded him a gold medal. 

In his second marriage Franklin was most fortunate in 
winning a cultured, travelled woman of wealth, Jane Griffin, 
whose sympathies were entirely in harmony with his own, 
and whose devotion to his memory kept alive for twelve 
years the interest of the world in ceaseless efforts to ascertain 
his fate. The succeeding years until the last ill-fated voyage 
were most happily divided between a cruise on the Mediter- 
ranean, in which Franklin commanded the Rainbow with 
such pleasure to the crew and officers that the ship won the 
cheerful sobriquet of Celestial Rainbow and the Paradise of 
Franklin, and the governorship of the colony of Van Die- 
men's Land, or Tasmania, a post he held for seven years 
with admirable success. Franklin had only been a few months 
in England when the Admiralty, through Sir John Barrow, 
for many years an enthusiastic promoter of Arctic enter- 
prise, decided upon another expedition to effect the discovery 
of the Northwest Passage. It is recorded that the First Lord 
of the Admiralty, Lord Haddington, in conversing with Sir 
Edward Parry upon the advisability of offering Franklin the 
post of commanding officer, remarked : — 



LAST JOURNEY OF SIB JOHN FRANKLIN 93 

"I see Franklin is sixty years old. Ought we to let him 
go?" to which Parry answered, — 

"My lord, he is the best man for the post I know, and if 
you don't let him go, he will, I am certain, die of disap- 
pointment." 

In an interview with Franklin, Lord Haddington spoke 
again of his age being sixty, and added, — 

"You might be content with your laurels, after having 
done so much for your country," to which Franklin replied 
with all the eagerness of youth, — 

"No, no! my lord, only fifty-nine!" 

Lord Brougham, when told that the command had been 
accepted by Franklin, remarked, — 

"Arctic work gets into the blood of these men. They 
can't help going again if they get a chance." 

The Erebus and Terror were both ships that had seen 
many years' service in Arctic and Antarctic seas. They were 
provisioned for three years and supplied with every facility 
for scientific and geographical observations. The com- 
bined crews and officers number one hundred and thirty- 
eight souls. In company with the transport, Barreto Junior, 
the expedition sailed from Greenhithe on the 19th of May, 
1845. 

The 4th of July, they reached Whale Fish Island, near 
Disco, in Greenland, and here the Barreto Junior transferred 
to the Erebus and Terror her extra stores, returning to Eng- 
land with the last message from Franklin ever received by 
the Admiralty. 

"The ships are now complete with supplies of every kind 
for three years ; they are therefore very deep, but happily 
we have no reason to expect much sea as we proceed further." 

With confidence and enthusiasm, John Franklin turned 
to the north, "much better in health," Lieutenant Fairholme 
had written, "than when we left home, and really looks ten 



94 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

years younger. He takes an active part in everything that 
goes on, and his long experience in such service makes him a 
most valuable adviser." 

On the 26th of July, the Prince of Wales, a whaling vessel, 
saw the two ships in Melville Bay, waiting a favourable 
opportunity for pushing through the " middle ice." Signals 
were exchanged and an invitation extended to Franklin to 
dine with the captain of the whaling ship. A breeze spring- 
ing up, the Erebus and Terror parted company with the 
Prince of Wales. 

As if alluringly beckoned by that fatal enchantress, the 
" Lady of the Mists," Sir John Franklin and his gallant crew 
silently glided into the unknown, and from that hour were 
lost to the world forever. 



CHAPTER VII 

Search for Sir John Franklin. — Captain Kellett. — Captain Moore. 

— Dr. Richardson. — Dr. Rae. — Sir J. C. Ross. — Mr. Parker. 

— Dr. Goodsir. — Collinson and M'Clure. — The Felix. — Prince 
Albert. — Commanded by Charles C. Forsyth. — Captain Austin's 
squadron. — Captain Ommaney. — Lieutenant Sherard Osborn. 
— Commander Cator. — Grinnell expedition under De Haven. 

No tidings of the Erebus and Terror having reached England 
by the close of 1847, great anxiety was felt as to the where- 
abouts and fate of the missing ships. The government im- 
mediately took measures to outfit three searching parties. 
The first was to go westward to Behring Strait, and there 
meet the ships with assistance, should they have been suc- 
cessful in making the object of their voyage, and for this 
purpose Captain Henry Kellett commanding the Herald and 
Captain Moore in the ship Plover left England in January, 
1848. 

The second was to be an overland and boat expedition 
with its object to explore the coast of the Arctic Sea between 
the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers, under the leadership 
of that faithful companion and friend of Sir John Franklin, 
Dr. Sir John Richardson, accompanied by Rae, who had but 
lately returned from his memorable journey of 1846-1847. 

The third expedition was under Sir James Clark Ross 
in the ships Enterprise and Investigator, with instructions to 
make for Lancaster Sound and Barrow. Strait, examine all 
tracks of the missing ships westward and render relief if the 
ships should be discovered imprisoned in the ice. 

Owing to the poor sailing qualities of the Plover and 

95 



96 THE QUE AT WHITE NORTH 

Herald, the ships were unable to reach high latitudes in time 
to penetrate to the northward that season, and not until 
the following July, in company with the Nancy Dawson, a 
pleasure yacht belonging to Robert Sheldon, Esq., did they 
pursue the main object of their expedition. July 18, 1849, 
they left Chamisso, and on the 20th they were off Cape Lis- 
burn ; five days later they passed Icy Point. Here they 
despatched the Herald's pinnace and three other boats, with 
a party of twenty-five men with three months' provisions, 
under command of Lieutenant Pullen, whose instructions 
were to connect with the Richardson party, one division 
in two whale-boats to extend the search to the Mackenzie 
River, ascend that river, and return homeward by Fort Hope 
and York Factory ; the remaining division to return to the 
rendezvous of the ships at Chamisso Island. 

The Herald and Plover cruised northward as far as the 
ice would permit, then explored the coast-line in detail. On 
the 7th of August, the Herald sighted new territory. Running 
close to the island, they found it barren, and for the most 
part of inaccessible granite cliffs. 

The Nancy Dawson and the return boats under Lieutenant 
Pullen rejoined the Herald by the 24th of August. They had 
parted company with the two whale-boats at Dease Inlet. 
They had found no traces of the Franklin expedition, but had 
left deposits of provisions at intervals along the route. 

The following months were spent in winter quarters, and, 
as soon as the weather permitted, in careful examination of 
the inlets and coast from Icy Cape to Point Barrow in the 
hope of finding traces of the missing party. Disappointed 
at a fruitless voyage, the ships returned to England in October, 
1850. 

In his official report to the Secretary of the Admiralty, Sir 
John Richardson gives an excellent summary of the results 
of the second expedition. He says in part : — 



RICHARDSON'S REPORT 97 

"In the voyage between the Mackenzie and Coppermine, I 
carefully executed their lordships' instructions with respect to 
the examination of the coast-line, and became fully con- 
vinced that no ships had passed within view of the mainland. 
It is, indeed, nearly impossible that they could have done 
so unobserved by some of the numerous parties of Eskimos 
on the look-out for whales. We were, moreover, informed 
by the Eskimos of Back's Inlet, that the ice had been press- 
ing on their shore nearly the whole summer ; and its closely 
packed condition when we left it on the 4th of September 
made it highly improbable that it would open for ship navi- 
gation later in the season. I regretted extremely that the 
state of the ice prevented me from crossing to Wollaston 
Land, and thus completing, in one season, the whole scheme 
of their lordships' instructions. The opening between 
Wollaston and Victoria Lands has always appeared to me 
to possess great interest, for through it the flood-tide evi- 
dently sets into Coronation Gulf, diverging to the westward 
by the Dolphin and Union Strait, and to the eastward round 
Cape Alexander. By the fifth clause of Sir John Franklin's 
instructions, he is directed to steer southwestward from 
Cape Walker, which would lead him nearly in the direction 
of the strait in question. If Sir John found Barrow Strait 
as open as when Sir Edward Parry passed it on four pre- 
vious occasions, I am convinced that (complying as exactly 
as he could with his instructions and without looking into 
Wellington Sound, or other openings either to the south or 
north of Barrow Strait) he pushed directly west to Cape 
Walker, and from thence south westwards. If so, the ships 
were probably shut up on some of the passages between Vic- 
toria, Banks, and Wollaston Lands. 

"Being apprehensive that the boats I left on the coast 
would be broken up by the Eskimos, and being, moreover, 
of opinion that the examination of the opening in question 



98 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

might be safely and efficiently performed in the only remain- 
ing boat I had fit for the transport from Bear Lake to the 
Coppermine, I determined to entrust this important service 
to Mr. Rae, who volunteered, and whose ability and zeal 
in the cause I cannot too highly commend. He selected an 
excellent crew, all of them experienced voyageurs and capa- 
ble of finding their way back to Bear Lake without guides, 
should any unforeseen accident deprive them of their leader. 

"In the month of March (1849) a sufficient supply of pem- 
mican, and other necessary stores, with the equipments of 
the boat, were transported over the snow on dog-sledges 
to a navigable part of the Kendall River, and left there under 
the charge of two men. As soon as the Dease broke up in 
June, Mr. Rae would follow, with the boat, the rest of the 
crew, and a party of Indian hunters, and would descend 
the Coppermine River about the middle of July, at which 
time the sea generally begins to break up. He would then, 
as soon as possible, cross from Cape Krusenstern to Wollaston 
Land, and endeavor to penetrate to the northward, erecting 
signal-columns, and making deposits on conspicuous head- 
lands, and especially on the north shore of Banks' Land, 
should he be fortunate enough to attain that coast. He was 
further instructed not to hazard the safety of his party by 
remaining too long on the north side of Dolphin and Union 
Strait, and to be guided in his movements by the season, the 
state of the ice, and such intelligence as he might obtain 
from the Eskimos. He was also requested to engage one or 
more families of Indian hunters to pass the summer of 1805 
on the banks of the Coppermine River, to be ready to assist 
any party that may direct their course that way." 

The 6th of July, 1848, found the Enterprise and Investigator 
of the third expedition at the Danish settlement of Uper- 
navik ; from this port Sir James Clark Ross wrote a letter to 
the British Admiralty stating that after passing a second 



SIR JAMES CLARK ROSS 99 

winter near Port Leopold, should no traces of Sir John 
Franklin's party be discovered, he would send the Investigator 
under Captain Bird back to England and proceed with the 
search alone. 

This caused great uneasiness at the Admiralty, and the 
North Star was at once despatched with a supply of extra 
stores and instruction to Ross to remain in company with 
the Investigator and not follow out the design expressed in 
his letter. The North Star was further instructed that 
should she fail to reach the ships, stores were to be left at the 
farthest point she could reach in safety, and then she should 
return to England. Though explicitly warned against 
getting beset in the ice, the season of 1849 passed, and the 
North Star did not return, thus causing great anxiety in 
England as to her safety. 

To return to the Enterprise and Investigator, these two 
ships, after leaving Upernavik, had found very unfavourable 
conditions in the ice, which necessitated towing the ships 
or proceeding slowly under light winds and calms. By the 
23d of August, the ships had reached Pond Bay, having 
sustained severe shocks through ice pressure and other dis- 
couraging conditions. They kept close to the shore, firing 
guns and sending up signals at frequent intervals, but no 
sign of Eskimos or other human beings were discovered. 

Upon reaching Possession Bay, a party was sent on shore 
to search for traces of the expedition, but nothing was found 
except a paper left there by Sir Edward Parry on the same 
day (August 30) in 1819. Again at Cape York another 
party went ashore, and, though no traces were found, a con- 
spicuous mark was erected for the benefit of any other party 
that might reach there. The ships then proceeded. 

"We stood over," writes Sir James Ross, "toward North- 
east Cape until we came in with the edge of a pack, too 
dense for us to penetrate, lying between us and Leopold 



100 THE GREAT WHITE NOBTH 

Island, about fourteen miles broad ; we therefore coasted the 
north shore of Barrow Strait, to seek a harbour further to 
the westward, and to examine the numerous inlets of that 
shore. Maxwell Bay, and several smaller indentations, were 
thoroughly explored, and, although we got near the entrance 
of Wellington Channel, the firm barrier of ice which stretched 
across it, and which had not broken away this season, con- 
vinced us all was impracticable in that direction. We now 
stood to the southwest to seek for a harbour near Cape Ren- 
nell, but found a heavy body of ice extending from the west 
of Cornwallis Island. Coast ng along the pack during 
stormy and foggy weather, we had difficulty in keeping the 
ships free during the nights, for I believe so great a quan- 
tity of ice was never before seen in Barrow Strait at this 
period of the season." 

By the 11th of September, the ships found winter quarters 
in the harbour of Port Leopold, and almost immediately the 
ice pack closed in and formed a complete barrier for the re- 
mainder of the winter. Various exploring and surveying 
journeys were undertaken during this winter and the coast 
carefully examined in all directions, but no trace of Franklin 
or his ships was discovered. 

The crew caught in traps a number of white foxes, and 
knowing how far these animals will roam in search of food, 
the men clasped round the animals' necks copper collars, on 
which were written the position of the ships and depots of 
provisions, and the creatures were set at liberty in the hope 
they would be caught by some of the ill-fated party. 

During April and May, Captain Ross, accompanied by Lieu- 
tenant M'Clintock and a party of twelve men, carefully ex- 
plored the coast-line of the northern and western coast of 
Boothia Peninsula. 

"The examination of the coast," writes Captain Ross, 
"was pursued until the fifth of June, when, having consumed 



SIR JAMES CLARK ROSS 101 

more than half our provisions, and the strength of the party 
being much reduced, I was reluctantly compelled to abandon 
further operations, as it was, moreover, necessary to give 
the men a day of rest. But that the time might not be 
wholly lost, I proceeded with two hands to the extreme 
south point in sight from our encampment, distant about 
eight or nine miles." 

During the absence of Captain Ross, other parties had 
explored the vicinity of Cape Hind, and another along the 
western shore. This last party under Lieutenant Robinson 
reached as far as Cresswell Bay, a few miles to the south- 
ward of Fury Beach. He found the house in which Sir 
John Ross had wintered in 1832-1833, with a quantity of 
stores and provisions of the Fury, that had been there since 
1827, and were in excellent state of preservation. 

Preparations were now made for leaving Port Leopold, 
Captain Ross's object being to examine Wellington Channel 
and, if feasible, to penetrate as far as Melville Island. To 
this end it was necessary to set to work with ice-saws and 
cut a channel of over two miles that the ships might be freed. 
This tedious work was accomplished by the last of August, 
but before leaving, a shelter was built on land, twelve months' 
provisions, a steam-launch, belonging to the Investigator, and 
such other stores being left behind as would be found wel- 
come to Sir John Franklin's party should they reach that 
spot. Hardly had the ships got under way when a strong 
wind brought the ice down on them, and they were soon beset. 

For some days it seemed as if the ships were hard fast for 
a dreary winter, but the wind shifted to the westward, the 
whole body of ice being driven to the eastward, and in the 
centre of a field of ice more than fifty miles in circumference, 
the ships were carried along the southern shore of Lancaster 
Sound. After passing its entrance, they drifted along the 
western shore of Baffin Bay until abreast of Pond Bay, when, 



102 THE GBEAT WHITE NORTH 

with a suddenness that was all but miraculous, the field broke 
into innumerable fragments, and the ships were freed. 

"At once all sail was set, warps were run out from all 
quarters, to assist the ship through the heavy floes, and at 
last the Investigator and Enterprise found themselves in open 
water." 

"It is impossible," writes Ross, "to convey any idea of 
the sensation we experienced when we found ourselves once 
more at liberty ; many a heart poured forth its praises and 
thanksgivings to Almighty God for this unlooked-for deliv- 
erance. 

"The advance of winter had now closed all the harbours 
against us ; and as it was impossible to penetrate to the 
westward through the pack from which we had just been 
liberated, I made the signal to the Investigator of my inten- 
tion to return to England." 

Thus the three expeditions so far sent out had not met 
with success, and the anxiety in England over the fate of 
the Erebus and Terror was increasing. In March, 1848, the 
Admiralty offered the sum of one hundred guineas or more 
to the crews of any whaling ships that should bring accurate 
tidings of the missing ships and of Franklin. 

In March, 1849, the British government offered another 
reward of twenty thousand pounds "to such private ship, 
or by distribution among such private ships, or to any ex- 
ploring party or parties, of any country, as might, in the 
judgment of the Board of Admiralty, have rendered efficient 
assistance to Sir John Franklin, his ships, or their crews, and 
might have contributed directly to extricate them from the ice." 

Lady Franklin, whose devotion and courage had won the 
admiration of the world, offered two thousand pounds and 
three thousand pounds to officers and crew of any ship that 
should render assistance to her husband and, if necessary, 
bring Sir John Franklin and the party back to England. 



THE LADY FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 103 

In the spring of 1849, she sent out provisions and coal for 
the use of the missing ships, and these were carried in the 
whaling ship Truelove, in charge of Mr. Parker, and were 
landed at Cape Hay on the south side of Lancaster Sound. 

In 1849, Dr. Goodsir, whose brother had sailed in the 
Erebus as assistant surgeon, went north on the whaling ship 
Advice, under Captain Penny, and penetrated to Lancaster 
Sound, but was debarred from entering Prince Regent 
Inlet by the ice. The Advice closely skirted the shores, and 
deposited provisions, but found no traces of the missing ships, 
and returned to England. In the meantime, the Enterprise 
and Investigator, the gallant ships of the third government 
expedition previously described, were being refitted and 
provisioned for the purpose of going by way of South America 
to Behring Strait. Sailing from Plymouth Sound January 20, 
1850, the Enterprise under the command of Captain Richard 
Collinson, and the Investigator under Commander M'Clure, 
made a comparatively fast run to the Pacific. By the middle 
of August the Enterprise fell in with the ice. At Grantly 
Harbor, communication with the Plover and Herald deter- 
mined Captain Collinson to proceed to Hongkong, there 
to replenish his stores and not attempt to penetrate the ice 
until the following April. 

In the meantime the North Star with her provisions and 
despatches had spent the winter in North Star Bay, in Wol- 
stenholme Sound, 76° 33' north latitude and 68° 56' west 
longitude. Not until August, 1850, did she get free of her 
retreat, and some days later in Lancaster Sound she spoke 
the Lady Franklin and Sophia under the command of Mr. 
Penny. These ships had been equipped mainly at the ex- 
pense of Lady Franklin ; had sailed early in the spring and, 
though independent of the government expeditions, were 
to cooperate with them as circumstances demanded. Later 
the North Star fell in with the Felix, a schooner-rigged vessel 



104 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

of one hundred and twenty tons, provisioned for eighteen 
months and under that veteran sea captain and explorer, 
Sir John Ross. The Felix had been equipped by public 
subscription and sent out for the purpose of searching the 
west side of the entrance of Wellington Channel from Cape 
Hotham to Banks Land. 

The North Star deposited a quantity of provisions at a 
point the commander named Navy Board Inlet, on the 
mainland behind Wollaston Island, and erected a cairn and 
flagstaff, having first made an unsuccessful attempt to reach 
Port Bowen and Port Neale. In Possession Bay she spoke 
the Prince Albert, that gallant little craft, equipped in greater 
part by the devoted Lady Franklin, who had raised the nec- 
essary funds by selling out all personal securities which she 
could legally touch. Commander Charles C. Forsyth and 
Mr. W. P. Snow had volunteered their services without 
compensation, and the object of this expedition. was to exam- 
ine the shores of Prince Regent Inlet and the Gulf of Boothia 
and send out travelling parties to examine the west side of 
Boothia down to Dease and Simpson straits. 

Shortly after this, the North Star turned homeward, reaching 
Spithead, England, September 28, 1850. 

The British government had by now outfitted two strong 
teak-built ships, the Resolute and the Assistance, and two 
steam vessels, the Pioneer and Intrepid. The object of this 
expedition was to renew the search by way of Baffin Bay and 
Lancaster Sound. Captain H. T. Austin commanded the 
Resolute, Captain Ommaney the Assistance, Lieutenant 
Sherard Osborn the Pioneer, and Lieutenant Commander 
Cator the Intrepid. Of what they accomplished, we shall 
speak later. 

As early as April 4, 1849, Lady Franklin had made a heart- 
rending appeal to the President of the United States, in which 
she called on the American nation, as a "kindred people, 



FIRST GRINNELL EXPEDITION 105 

to join heart and hand in the enterprise of snatching the lost 
navigators from a dreary grave." Such an eloquent appeal 
could not help but rouse the country to the strongest feeling 
of sympathy and interest. But the prolonged delays incident 
to our. national legislation threatened to defeat her request, 
until a generous philanthropist, Mr. Henry Grinnell, a New 
York merchant of great wealth, stepped forward with the 
munificent offer of two well-equipped vessels, the Advance 
of one hundred and forty tons, and the Rescue of ninety tons, 
which he placed at the disposition of the government. Con- 
gress accepted this generous gift, and the ships were placed 
under the direction of the Navy Board. The command was 
given* to Lieutenant E. De Haven, a most zealous and able 
naval officer; Mr. Murdock was sailing master, with Dr. 
E. K. Kane, that remarkable man "weak in body but great 
in mind," whose succeeding journeys contributed so much 
to solving the mystery surrounding the fate of the lost ships. 

The Grinnell expedition left New York on May 23, 1850, 
and was absent about sixteen months. 

It will thus be seen that the Arctic seas had never been so 
replete with expeditions, whose heroic object was the search 
for missing comrades ; and the year 1850-1851 was one of 
unparalleled adventure, exploration, and discovery, but 
alas ! only the most meagre traces of the brave mariners 
were found, whose deplorable fate stirred the sympathy of the 
civilized world. 

The unfavourable conditions of the "middle ice" in Baffin 
Bay and the Melville Bay barrier caused the searching expe- 
ditions great difficulties and discouraging delays. So strenu- 
ous were the conditions at times that the officers and crews 
of the smaller vessels made every preparation to leave the 
ships at a moment's notice, should these vessels be crushed in 
the ice. By boring, tracking, and cutting, and by one ship 
towing the other through loose ice as the occasion demanded, 



106 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

slow but steady advance was made to the desired latitudes. 
Most interesting are the experiences of the little Prince 
Albert, Lady Franklin's ship. 

In describing a daring attack of this little craft upon ice- 
floes, Mr. Snow writes most graphically : — 

"It was determined by Captain Forsyth boldly to try and 
break through the impediment, by forcing the ship under a 
press of canvas. Accordingly, all sail was set and the ship 
was steering direct for the narrowest and most broken part 
of the neck. As this was the first and only time the Prince 
Albert was made to come direct upon the ice to break it with 
the force she would derive from a press of sail, we were all 
anxious to see how she would stand it ; and right well did she 
bear the test. The two mates were aloft in the 'crow's 
nest ' to con the vessel ; I was standing on the extreme point 
of her bow and holding on by the fore-stay to direct her 
movement when immediately upon the ice; and Captain 
Forsyth was by the side of the helmsman. Every man was 
at some particular station, and ready to perform anything 
that was instantly required of him. Cook and steward were 
also on deck ; and throughout the ship an almost breathless 
anxiety prevailed ; for, it must be remembered, it was not a 
large and powerful ship, but a small, and comparatively 
fragile one, that was now about to try of her own accord, 
and with her own strength, to break a piece of ice some feet 
thick, though not very broad. On either side of her were 
heavy floes and sconce pieces ; and it required the greatest 
nicety in guiding her, that she might, in her strongest part, 
the bow, hit the precise spot where the neck was weakest, 
and not come upon any other part where she could do nothing 
but severely injure herself. 

"On she came, at a rate of full five miles per hour ; gaining, 
as she proceeded, increased impetus, until she rushed towards 
it with a speed of at least eight miles in the hour. The dis- 



THE LADY FRANKLIN EXPEDITION 107 

tance from the neck was about a mile, and the breeze blew 
steadily upon it. The weakest and narrowest part was that 
close to the starboard floe, and to that our eyes were all 
directed. 

"'Port! starboard! So — — steady!' was every now 
and then bawled out with stentorian lungs from aloft, and as 
energetically and promptly repeated, by the captain below, 
to the man at the wheel. Presently she came close to — she 
was almost upon it — a mistaken hail from aloft would have 
put her helm a-port, and sent her crushing upon the heavy 
floe. I heard the order 'a-port,' and, before it had been re- 
peated, shouted loudly, with the men around me, who also 
saw* the mistake, 'starboard! starboard! hard a-starboard ! ' 
and in the next instant, with a tremendous blow, that for the 
moment made her rebound and tremble, she struck the ice 
in the exact point, and caused it to rend apart in several 
fragments. Ice poles and boat hooks were immediately 
in request ; and myself and half a dozen men sprang instantly 
over the bows, working with hands and feet and with all our 
might in removing the broken pieces by pushing them ahead 
of the vessel ; in which labour, she, herself, materially aided 
us by her own power pressing upon them. In a moment or 
two it was effected, and throwing ourselves aboard again 
like so many wild cats, we prepared for the next encounter. 

" This, however, proved nothing like the other. The first 
blow sent the whole of it flying in all directions, and the little 
Prince, as if in haughty disdain, passed through without once 
stopping, pushing aside the pieces, as they came against her. 
In another moment or two we were in a larger sheet of water, 
though to our disappointment blocked up at the extreme end 
by small bergs and huge hummocks, which latter had, ap- 
parently, been thus thrown up in consequence of some late 
severe squeeze there. We were, therefore, again obliged to 
make fast." 



108 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Thursday, August 15, Mr. Snow makes the entry, "We 
were, now, fairly in what is called by Arctic seamen, the 
'North Water,' and all seemed clear before us." 

By the 21st the little Prince Albert found herself off Port 
Leopold. Here a party made a difficult landing in a gutta- 
percha boat and found the house constructed by Sir James 
C. Ross, somewhat rent by the winter storms, but the pro- 
visions were in excellent condition and the little steam-launch 
ready to carry any shipwrecked crew to safety. 

The Prince Albert now made for Prince Regent Inlet, 
and soon after stood off Fury Beach. From this point the 
outlook was discouraging, as an expanse of hummocky ice 
without the slightest sign of an opening extended as far as 
the eye could reach. 

It was now found necessary to abandon the main object 
of the expedition; that is, the examination of the shores of 
Boothia, and the ship turned with the purpose of closely 
scanning the shores and headlands at the throat of Barrow 
Strait and a short distance up Wellington Channel. In Bar- 
row Strait, they spoke the American brig Advance; by the 
24th they neared Cape Hind. On this day they saw the 
Lady Franklin and Sophia, and later observed three more 
ships in Wellington Channel. 

The next day, while off Cape Spencer, the officers of the 
Prince Albert saw that to push further into the ice-pack 
through the few lanes still open might mean, in case of a 
sudden nip, being shut up for the winter, so it was reluctantly 
decided to make for home. 

Leaving behind them that noble fleet of searching vessels, 
including the Assistance, the Lady Franklin, the Sophia, the 
Rescue, and, though not visible, the Advance and Intrepid, 
the Prince Albert turned her bow homeward. At Cape Riley 
the officers noticed a signal-post and immediately sent a boat 
ashore to discover what it meant. 



CAPTAIN OMMANEY 109 

"As the boat touched the shelving rocks," writes Mr. 
Snow, "I hastily sprang out into the water, leaving the men 
to secure her ; and ran to the signal-post about fifty yards off. 
I was there in a moment, with Grate close at my heels. A 
few paces off I observed another and a rougher post erected, 
but this one had a small flag flying, and was evidently the 
principal. I really cannot tell whether the cylinder handed 
to me in the course of a second or two had been buried or 
merely tied to the post, so intent was I upon conjecturing 
what news I should receive. My hands trembled with eager- 
ness, and I could hardly read the paper. It was as follows : — 

"',Her Majesty's Arctic Searching Expedition. 

'"This is to certify that Captain Ommaney, with the 
officers of her Majesty's ships Assistance and Intrepid, landed 
at Cape Riley on the 23d of August, 1850, where he found 
traces of an encampment, and collected the remains of mate- 
rials which evidently prove that some party belonging to her 
Majesty's ships have been detained on this spot. Beechey 
Island was also examined, where traces were found of the 
same party. 

'"This is also to give notice that a supply of provisions and 
fuel is at Port Leopold. Her Majesty's ships, Assistance 
and Intrepid, were detached from the squadron under Captain 
Austin, off Wolstenholme, on the 15th inst., since when they 
have examined the north shores of Lancaster Sound and 
Barrow Strait, without meeting any other traces. Captain 
Ommanney proceeds to Cape Hotham and Cape Walker in 
search for further traces of Sir John Franklin's expedition. 

"'Dated on board her Majesty's ship Assistance, off Cape 
Riley, August 23, 1850. 

"'Erasmus Ommaney.' " 

"After the other signal-post had been examined," continues 
Mr. Snow, " I made a careful observation of everything around 



110 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

me, and commenced as close an investigation as the hurried 
nature of my visit, according to my orders, permitted me. 
The men had also, previously to my telling them and with 
an alacrity that did them credit, commenced a most prying 
search. One in a short time brought me about an inch and a 
half square piece of canvas well bleached ; another, the 
second mate, more fortunate, discovered a piece of rope, as 
I supposed a ratlin, and which was found to contain the 
Chatham Dock-yard Navy mark ; 1 a third found a piece of 
bone, with two holes bored in it. Beef bones, and other 
unmistakable marks of the place having been used within 
some very few years by a party of Europeans, for some pur- 
pose or other, were discovered. The ground presented very 
much the appearance of having been turned into an encamp- 
ment, for certain stones were so placed as to lead to the in- 
ference that tents had been erected within some of their 
enclosures, and in others a fire might have been made, but no 
marks of fire were visible. 

" Four of these circular parcels of stones I counted, and ob- 
served another which might or might not have been a fifth." 

Continuing her homeward voyage with her precious relics, 
the Prince Albert reached Aberdeen, October 1. The Admi- 
ralty identified the bit of rope as being navy-yard manufacture 
of not later than 1841. The canvas was also believed to be 
of British manufacture. The meat bones seemed to bear 
exactly the marks of the ship's provisions used about five 
years back, and the relics were identified as belonging to the 
ill-fated Erebus and Terror. 

As soon as it was known among the other searching parties 
that Captain Ommaney had found traces of the missing 
expedition, Ross, Austin, Penny, and De Haven began a 
minute investigation of the surrounding locality and proved 
that Cape Spencer and Beechey Island at the entrance of 

1 Navy ropes have certain threads of red or yellow, etc., laid in 
along with the yarns. 



■f 


^mMb^K- '-''kooR Bi^^HEr 




"* ' " .. -^jr 






'■%" y^^""^***^ 






Jfew 


JV*. - ' ■ :' v :' r -t: v . 


F ,; * : * 


>^^L 


^ 


*—j 


4* 



Henby Grinnell 



LIEUTENANT OSBOIiN 111 

Wellington Channel had been without doubt the site of 
Franklin's first winter quarters. At Cape Spencer, some 
ten miles above Cape Riley, a ground place for a tent was 
found, the floor paved with small stones. About the tent 
birds' bones and meat canisters were found. Numerous 
sledge tracks along the shore were also noticed. 

Of the examination of Beechey Island, Lieutenant Osborn 
writes : — 

"A long point of land slopes gradually from the southern 
bluffs of this now deeply interesting island, until it almost 
connects itself with the land of North Devon, forming on 
either side of it two good and commodious bays. On this 
slope a multitude of preserved-meat tins were strewed about ; 
and near them, and on the ridge of the slope, a carefully 
constructed cairn was discovered ; it consisted of layers of 
fitted tins, filled with gravel, and placed to form a firm and 
solid foundation. Beyond this, and along the northern shore 
of Beechey Island, the following traces were then quickly 
discovered : the embankment of a house, with carpenters' 
and armorers' working places, washing tubs, coal-bags, 
pieces of old clothing, rope, and, lastly, the graves of three of 
the crew of the Erebus and Terror, bearing date of the winter 
of 1845-1846. We, therefore, now had ascertained the first 
winter-quarters of Sir John Franklin. 

"On the eastern slope of the ridge of Beechey Island, a rem- 
nant of a garden (for remnant it now only was, having been 
dug up in the search) told an interesting tale ; its neatly- 
shaped, oval outline, the border carefully formed of moss 
lichen, poppies, and anemones, transplanted from some more 
genial part of this dreary region, — contrived still to show 
symptoms of vitality ; but the seeds which, doubtless, they 
had sowed in the garden had decayed away. 

"Nearer to the beach, a heap of cinders and scraps of iron 
showed the armorer's working-place ; and, along an old water- 



112 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

course, now chained up by frost, several tubs, constructed of 
the ends of salt-meat casks, left no doubt as to the washing- 
places of the men of Franklin's squadron. Happening to 
cross a level piece of ground, which as yet no one had lighted 
upon, I was pleased to see a pair of cashmere gloves laid out 
to dry, with two small stones on the palms to prevent their 
blowing away ; they had been there since 1846. I took 
them up carefully, as melancholy mementoes of my missing 
friends. In another spot a flannel was discovered ; and this, 
together with some things lying about, would, in my ignorance 
of wintering in the Arctic regions, have led me to suppose that 
there was considerable haste displayed in the departure of 
the Erebus and Terror from the spot, had not Captain Austin 
assured me that there was nothing to ground such a belief 
upon, and that, from experience, he could vouch for these 
being nothing more than the ordinary traces of a winter sta- 
tion ; and this opinion was fully borne out by those officers 
who had, in the previous year, wintered in Port Leopold, one 
of them asserting that people left winter quarters too well 
pleased to escape to care much for a handful of shavings, 
an old coal-bag, or a washing tub." 

On the headstones of the three graves resting in that bleak 
and desolate shore were the following inscriptions : — 

Sacred 

to the 

Memory 

of 

W. Braine, R. M. 

H. M. S. Erebus, 

Died April 3rd, 1846, 

Aged 32 years. 

"Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." 

Joshua, ch. XXIV. 15. 



LIEUTENANT OSBORN 113 

Sacred to the Memory of 

John Hartwell, A. B. of H. M. S. 

Erebus, 

Aged 23 years. 

"Thus saith the Lord, consider your ways." 

Haggai, I. 7. 

Sacred 

to 

The Memory 

of 

John Torrington, 

Who departed this life, 

January 1st, A.D., 1846, 

On board of 

H. M.'s Ship Terror, 

Aged 20 years. 

No other written record was found. The lost expedition 
had seemingly folded its tents, in the mysterious gloom of the 
Arctic night, and silently crept away. 

Now, just as the searchers had struck the trail, and were 
hot upon the scent, the icy clutch of the long winter arrested 
their endeavours, imperiously demanded of them patience, 
courage, endurance, and enforced upon them the weariness 
of months of waiting. Thus the squadron took up winter 
quarters at the southern extremity of Cornwallis Land ; 
the Grinnell expedition, following its instruction, made an 
attempt to return home, but was soon shut up in Wellington 
Channel, where the Advance and Rescue drifted backward 
and forward at the mercy of the ice. Of their attempts to 
escape being ice-bound for the winter, Dr. Kane draws a 
lively picture. 



114 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

" September 13. 

"The navigation is certainly exciting. I have never seen 
a description in my Arctic readings of anything like this. 
We are literally running for our lives, surrounded by the im- 
minent hazards of sudden consolidation in an open sea. All 
minor perils, nips, bumps, and sunken bergs are discarded ; 
we are staggering along under all sail, forcing our way while 
we can. One thump, received since I commenced writing, 
jerked the time-keeper from our binnacle down the cabin 
hatch, and, but for our strong bows, seven and a half solid 
feet, would have stove us in. Another time, we cleared a 
tongue of the main jack by riding it down at eight knots." 

"We were obliged," he continues, "several times the next 
day to bore through the young ice ; for the low temperature 
continued, and our wind lulled under Cape Hotham. The 
night gave us now three hours of complete darkness. It was 
danger to run on, yet equally danger to pause. Grim water 
was following close upon our heels ; and even the Captain, 
sanguine and fearless in emergency as he always proved him- 
self, as he saw the tenacious fields of sludge and pancake 
thickening around us, began to feel anxious. Mine was a 
jumble of sensations. I had been desirous to the last degree 
that we might remain on the field of search, and could hardly 
be satisfied at what promised to realize my wish. Yet I 
had hoped that our wintering would be near our English 
friends, that in case of trouble or disease we might mutually 
sustain each other. But the interval of fifty miles between us, 
in these inhospitable deserts, was as complete a separation 
as an entire continent ; and I confess that I looked at the dark 
shadows closing around Barlow Inlet, the prison from which 
we cut ourselves on the seventh, just six days before, with 
feelings as sombre as the landscape itself. The sound of our 
vessel crunching her way through the new ice is not easy to 
describe. It was not like the grinding of the old formed ice, 



ALBERT LAND 115 

nor was it the slushy scraping of sludge. We may all of us 
remember in the skating frolics of early days, the peculiar 
reverberating outcry of a pebble, as we tossed it from us along 
the edges of an old mill-dam, and heard it dying away in echoes 
almost musical. Imagine such a tone as this, combined with 
the whir of rapid motion, and the rasping noise of close-grained 
sugar. I was listening to the sound in my little den, after a 
sorrowful day, close upon zero, trying to warm up my stif- 
fened limbs. Presently it grew less, then increased, then 
stopped, then went on again, but jerking and irregular, and 
then it waned, and waned, and waned away to silence. 

''Down came the captain : 'Doctor, the ice has caught us ; 
we are frozen up.'" 

In describing the discovery of new territory, Dr. Kane 
says : — 

"On the 22d (September, 1850), our latitude was 75° 
24' 21". I now saw land to the north and west ; its horizon 
that of rolling ground, without bluffs, terminating at its 
northern end. Still further on to the north came a strip 
without visible land, and then land again with mountain tops 
distant and 'rising above the clouds.' This last was the 
land which received from Captain De Haven the name of 
Mr. Grinnell." 

The following year (1851) this same land was seen by 
Captain Penny, and named by him Albert Land. The 
Americans naturally supposed that when it was made known 
that this land had been discovered by De Haven about eight 
months before it was reached by Captain Penny, the name 
"Albert" would be dropped, and that of "Grinnell" substi- 
tuted. This, however, was not done. A strange, and cer- 
tainly not very honourable, feeling of jealousy seems to have 
induced the Admiralty and Geographical Society to shut their 
eyes to the fact that the discovery of the land was due to the 
Americans. This famous controversy resulted in bitter con- 



116 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

demnation of the English authorities for injustice and par- 
tiality. 

But to return to Dr. Kane's journal. On September 23, 
he pictures a fatal break-up of the ice : — 

"How shall I describe to you this pressure, its fearfulness 
and sublimity ! Nothing I have seen or read of approaches 
it. The voices of the ice and the heavy swash of the over- 
turned hummock-tables are at this moment dinning in my 
ears. 'All hands' are on deck fighting our grim enemy. 

"Fourteen inches of solid ice thickness, with some half dozen 
of snow, are, with the slow uniform advance of a mighty pro- 
pelling power, driving in upon our vessel. As they strike her, 
the semi-plastic mass is impressed with a mould of her side, 
and then, urged on by the force behind, slides upward, and 
rises in great vertical tables. When these attain their utmost 
height, still pressed on by others, they topple over, and form 
a great embankment of fallen tables. At the same time, 
others take a downward direction, and when pushed on, as 
in the other case, form a similar pile underneath. The side 
on which one or the other of these actions takes place for the 
time varies with the direction of the force, and the strength 
of the opposite or resisting side, the inclination of the vessel, 
and the weight of the superincumbent mounds ; and as these 
conditions follow each other in varying succession, the vessel 
becomes perfectly imbedded after a little while in crumbling 
and fractured ice." 

"We are lifted bodily eighteen inches out of water," con- 
tinues Dr. Kane. "The hummocks are reared up around the 
ship, so as to rise in some cases a couple of feet above our bul- 
warks — five feet above our deck. They are very often ten 
and twelve feet high. All hands are out, laboring with picks 
and crowbars to overturn the fragments that threaten to 
overwhelm us. Add to this darkness, snow, cold, and the 
absolute destitution of surrounding shores." 



DE HAVEN EXPEDITION 117 

"October 6, Sunday. 12 Midnight. They report us 
adrift. Wind, a gale from the northward and westward. 
An odd cruise this ! The American expedition fast in a lump 
of ice about as big as Washington Square, and driving, like 
a shanty on a raft, before a howling gale. 

"November 25. 

"Our daylight to-day was a mere name, three and a half 
hours of meagre twilight. I was struck for the first time with 
the bleached faces of my mess-mates. 

"Seventy-seven days more without a sunrise ! twenty-six 
before we reach the solstitial point of greatest darkness ! 

"December 22, Sunday. The solstice! — the midnight 
of the year ! 

"December 23, Monday. Perfect darkness! Drift un- 
known. Winds nearly at rest with the exception of a little 
gasp from the westward. 

"December 24, Tuesday. 'Through utter darkness 
borne.' 

"December 25. 'Ye Christmas of ye Arctic cruisers !' 

"Our Christmas passed without a lack of the good things 
of this life. ' Goodies ' we had galore ; but that best of earthly 
blessings, the communion of loved sympathies, these Arctic 
cruisers had not. It was curious to observe the depressing 
influences of each man's home thoughts, and absolutely sad- 
dening the effort of each man to impose upon his neighbor 
and be very boon and jolly. We joked incessantly, but badly, 
too ; ate of good things, and drank up a moiety of our Heid- 
sieck ; and then we sang negro songs, wanting only time, 
measure, and harmony, but abounding in noise ; and after a 
closing bumper to Mr. Grinnell, adjourned with creditable 
jollity from table to the theatre." 

"Never," writes Dr. Kane, "had I enjoyed the tawdry 
quackery of the stage half so much. 

"The 'Blue Devils' : God bless us ! but it was very, very 



118 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

funny. None knew their parts, and the prompter could not 
read glibly enough to do his office. Everything, whether 
jocose, or indignant, or commonplace, or pathetic, was deliv- 
ered in a high-tragedy monotone of despair ; five words at a 
time, or more or less, according to the facilities of the prompt- 
ing. Megrim, with a pair of seal-skin boots, bestowed his 
gold upon the gentle Annette ; and Annette, nearly six feet 
high, received it with mastodonic grace. Annette was an 
Irishman named Daly, and I might defy human being to hear 
her, while balanced on the heel of her boot, exclaim, in rich 
masculine brogue, 'Och, feather,' without roaring. 

"After this followed The Star Spangled Banner ; then a 
complicated Marseillaise by our French cook, Henri ; then a 
sailor's hornpipe by the diversely talented Bruce ; the orches- 
tra — Stewart playing out the intervals on the Jew's-harp 
from the top of a lard-cask. In fact, we were very happy 
fellows. We had had a foot race in the morning over the 
midnight ice for three purses of a flannel shirt each, and a 
splicing of the main brace. The day was night, the stars 
shining feebly through the mist. 

"December 28, Saturday. 

"From my very soul do I rejoice at the coming sun. Evi- 
dences not to be mistaken convince me that the health of our 
crew, never resting upon a very sound basis, must sink under 
the continued influences of darkness and cold. The tempera- 
ture and foulness of air in the between-deck Tartarus, cannot 
be amended, otherwise it would be my duty to urge a change. 
Between the smoke of lamps, the dry heat of stoves, and the 
fumes of the galley, all of them unintermitting, what wonder 
that we grow feeble. The short race of Christmas Day 
knocked up all our officers except Griff en. It pained me to 
see my friend Lovell, our strongest man, fainting with the 
exertion. The symptoms of scurvy among the crew are still 
increasing, and more general. Faces are growing pale ; and 



BE HAVEN EXPEDITION 119 

an indolence akin to apathy seems to be creeping over us. 
I long for the light. Dear, dear sun, no wonder you are 
worshipped ! " 

It may be imagined with what rejoicings they welcomed 
the glowing disk when on February 18 they first beheld it. 
Three cheers went up, and Kane himself fired a salute. 
Though the dawn increased, the cold twilight still continued, 
and the perils of their situation were ever present. Many 
times the conditions of the ice threatened their destruction, 
but not until June 5 did its appalling disruption free them. 
In twenty minutes the ice, as far as the eye could reach, was 
a vast field of moving floes. Five days later they emerged 
into the open water and made for Godhaven on the coast of 
Greenland. 

Here they underwent repairs, and, undaunted by the recent 
perils, again turned their prows to the north. Skirting the 
coast of Greenland as far as the 73d degree, they sailed to the 
westward and spoke an English whaling ship near the Dutch 
Island about the 7th and 8th of July. By the 11th they were 
pushing their way through the accumulations of ice in Baffin 
Bay, and here the gallant little Prince Albert, on her way back 
to join the searching squadron, continued in their company 
until the 3d of August, when she hove off to the westward 
to try a more southern passage. 

Pushing bravely against the odds of impenetrable ice 
barriers ; blocked at every manoeuvre to force a passage ; 
nine more months of winter threatening the enfeebled crew; 
the brave De Haven determined to give up the unequal battle, 
and Dr. Kane makes this entry : — 

"August 19, Tuesday : 

"Rescue is close astern of us ; she got through about noon 
yesterday. Our commodore has resolved on an immediate 
return to the United States." 



CHAPTER VIII 

Search for Sir John Franklin continued. — Sledge journey of Captain 
Austin's squadron. — Return of Prince Albert under command of 
Captain Kennedy. — Bellot. 

The British searching squadron, including the Resolute, 
the Assistance, the Pioneer, and the Intrepid, while wintering 
in the vicinity of Cornwallis Island and Griffith Island, had 
held frequent communication and planned for exploration 
journeys on sledges to be undertaken as early as possible the 
following spring. Before the winter became too severe, 
depots of provisions were established to be used by the sledg- 
ing parties, and, the men trained in sledge dragging and walk- 
ing exercises that they might be in good physical condition 
when the time for a test of endurance should arrive. Under 
the direction of Captain Austin, detailed plans were formed 
for careful exploration of islands and lands along Parry 
Strait. To Captain Penny was entrusted the thorough 
search of Wellington Channel. 

As early as the 12th of April, 1851, the parties intended for 
the westward explorations, numbering one hundred and four 
men, proceeded under the command of Captain Ommaney 
to the northwest end of Griffith Island, and there the entire 
encampment was closely inspected by Captain Austin. 

The extraordinary records of the six "extended" parties, 
those with instructions to go the farthest possible distance, 
were as follows : First, the sledge Reliance, under Captain 
Ommaney, travelled on south shore, was absent sixty days, 
and covered four hundred and eighty miles, two hundred and 
five of which was previously unknown coast. Second, the 
sledge True Blue, under Lieutenant Osborn, travelled on the 

120 



SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 121 

south shore, was absent fifty-eight clays, covered five hundred 
and six miles, and discovered seventy miles of coast. The 
third sledge, Enterprise, under Lieutenant Brown, travelled on 
south shore, was absent forty-four days, and covered three 
hundred and seventy-five miles, including one hundred and 
fifty of previously unknown coast. The True Blue, making 
the most western point reached 103° 25' west longitude, a 
point about halfway between Leopold Island and Point 
Turnagain on the American continent. 

Of the three parties designed for the search of the north 
shore, the first sledge, Lady Franklin, under command of 
Lieutenant Aldrich, was absent sixty-two days, covered five 
hundred and fifty miles, and discovered seventy miles of 
coast. The second sledge, Perseverance, under Lieutenant 
M'Clintock, was absent eighty days, and covered seven 
hundred and sixty miles, forty miles of which was previously 
undiscovered coast. The third sledge, Resolute, under Sur- 
geon Bradford, was absent eighty days, and covered six 
hundred and sixty-nine miles, and discovered one hundred 
and thirty-five miles of coast. 

To Lieutenant M'Clintock was due the honour of reaching 
the farthest west, 74° 38' north latitude, and 114° 20' west 
longitude. On this journey M'Clintock reached Bushman 
Cove, Melville Island, where Parry had encamped June 
11, 1820. Traces of his stay were found by M'Clintock and 
later, upon crossing to Winter Harbor, on a large stone 
boulder he found the following inscription : — 

His Britannic Majesty's 

Ships Hecla and Griper, 

Commanded by 

W. C. Parry and Mr. Liddon, 

Wintered in the adjacent 

Harbor 1819-20. 

A. Tisher. Sculpt. 



122 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

It was evident that no man had visited the spot since that 
early date, and a hare was found near the rock so tame that 
she would almost allow the men to touch her. M'Clintock 
added the figures 1851 to the inscription and prepared to 
return to the ships, which he reached July 4. 

The parties organized for the purpose of depositing pro- 
visions, setting up marks, and making observations, were 
absent from the ships during periods of from twelve to 
thirty-four days. Strange as it may seem, they underwent 
greater hardship and suffered more than the " extended 
parties," which returned in excellent condition, whereas 
no less than twenty-eight men were frost-bitten, and one 
died from exhaustion, of those sharing the shorter excur- 
sions. 

The six parties designated for the exploration of Welling- 
ton Channel were under the command of Captain Stuart, 
Messrs. Marshall, J. Stewart, and Reid, and Surgeons Suther- 
land and Goodsir. 

From the outset, April 17, they encountered disagreeable 
weather, which considerably delayed their progress. How- 
ever, Captain Penny, who had general supervision, was for- 
tunate enough to discover "a wide westward strait of open 
water, lying along the further side of the lands which flank 
Barrow's Strait and Parry's Strait." Entering the ice lanes 
with a boat, he penetrated up Queen's Channel as far as 
Baring Island and Cape Beecher. Being able to proceed no 
further, he returned to the ships. At this point "a fine open 
sea stretched invitingly away to the north, but his fragile 
boat was ill-equipped for a voyage of discovery. Fully per- 
suaded that Franklin must have followed this route, he failed, 
however, in convincing Captain Austin of the truth of his 
theory, and as, without that officer's cooperation, nothing 
could be effected, he was compelled to follow the course 
pointed out by the Admiralty squadron, which, after two 



SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 123 

ineffectual attempts to enter Smith and Jones sounds, re- 
turned to England." 

An unlikely tale told to old Sir John Ross by the Eskimos 
near Cape York, to the effect that in the winter of 1840 two 
ships were wrecked in the ice off Cape Dudley Digges and 
afterwards ransacked and burned by the natives, and the crew 
massacred, determined Sir John to investigate the story as 
closely as possible and then return in the Felix to England. 
Even after his return home, he seems to have been firm in the 
belief that Sir John Franklin and the crew of the Erebus and 
Terror perished in Baffin Bay. 

Having made a close inspection of this bay before his re- 
turn, he describes the results of his search as follows : "Many 
important corrections and valuable additions were made to 
the charts of the much frequented eastern side of Baffin Bay, 
which has been more closely observed and navigated by this 
than any former expedition ; and, much to my satisfaction, 
confirming the latitude and longitude of every headland I 
had the opportunity of laying down in the year 1818." 

We turn now to continue the story of another expedition. 

The little Prince Albert, which spoke the Advance and 
Rescue in Baffin Bay, July 12, 1851, on her return trip to 
northern waters, had been most carefully overhauled and 
refitted for her arduous enterprise. Her commander was 
Captain Kennedy, and second in command was Lieutenant J. 
Bellot, a young French officer noted for his adventurous 
spirit and charming personality, who had volunteered his 
services. Among the crew, all of whom were picked men, 
was John Hepburn, who had accompanied Sir John Franklin 
on that first land expedition which came near proving fatal 
to the entire party. Another of the men had accompanied 
Dr. Rae on his first journey to Repulse Bay, and a third had 
accompanied Sir John Richardson in his boat journey through 
the interior of America. 



124 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Discouraging conditions of ice and weather met the gal- 
lant crew in Prince Regent Inlet. Ploughing a way through 
a tortuous course, the Prince Albert succeeding in reaching 
Elwin Bay only to find it ice-bound and impassable. Batty 
Bay and Fury Beach were also impossible of access, and now 
the condition of the ice becoming so alarming, they gave up 
an attempt at the west side of the inlet and made a hasty 
retreat to Port Bowen, — where traces of Sir Edward Parry's 
party, which wintered there in 1825, were still discernible. 

To avoid wintering at so great a distance from the scene 
of the explorations planned for the following spring, they re- 
crossed the strait and approached the shore for the purpose 
of making a landing. Captain Kennedy, accompanied by 
four of the crew, cast off in a gutta-percha boat and made for 
the beach. Upon landing, Captain Kennedy ascended the 
cliffs of Cape Seppings, and decried Port Leopold free from 
ice. Hoping to put the Prince Albert in this safe harbour, he 
at once made an attempt to rejoin his ship, but, upon reach- 
ing the shore, found to his consternation that, owing to the 
sudden moving of the ice-pack, he could not rejoin her and 
that she was being merrily carried down-stream in spite of 
every effort of the men on board to stop her progress. The 
shadows of night came upon them rapidly, and the tempes- 
tuous roaring, grinding, and tossing of the ice was all that 
could be seen or heard. 

A most uncomfortable night followed their unlucky ad- 
venture. Their boat was the only available shelter, and this 
served for a covering under which one man at a t me took an 
hour's uncomfortable rest, wh le the others exercised to keep 
their bodies from freezing. The next morning at dawn, upon 
mounting the cliffs once more, their alarm was increased 
by the melancholy fact that the ship had completely dis- 
appeared from view. 

No more forlorn castaways can be imagined. The only 



RETURN OF THE PRINCE ALBERT 125 

mitigating circumstance in their sorry condition was the 
knowledge that on the other side of the harbour at Whaler 
Point, Sir James Ross had left a deposit of provisions about 
two years before. To this point their steps were now directed, 
and upon reaching the depot their hopes revived somewhat 
when they found the condition of the provisions excellent. 
The house left by Sir James Ross was in fair condition, the 
flag and record were easily found, and, resigned to their fate, 
Kennedy and his companions determined to face the possibil- 
ity of passing the long Arctic winter with the best possible 
grace. 

"It was now," says Kennedy, "the 10th of September. 
Winter was evidently fast setting in, and, from the distance 
the ship had been carried during that disastrous night, — • 
whether out to sea or down the inlet we could not conjecture, 
— there was no hope of our being able to rejoin her, at least 
during the present season. There remained, therefore, no 
alternative but to make up our minds to pass the winter, if 
necessary, where we were. The first object to be attended to 
was the erecting of some sort of shelter against the daily in- 
creasing inclemency of the weather ; and for this purpose, 
the launch, left by Sir James Ross, was selected. Her main 
mast was laid on supports at the bow and stern, about nine 
feet in height, and by spreading two of her sails over this a 
very tolerable roo was obtained. A stove was set up in the 
body of the boat, with the pipes running through the roof ; 
and we were soon sitting by a comfortable fire, which, after 
our long exposure to the wet and cold, we stood very much in 
need of." 

It was the intention of Captain Kennedy to make sledge 
journeys to distant points in the hope of sighting the Prince 
Albert or discovering traces of the Erebus and Terror, — but 
before the necessary preparations were completed, some five 
weeks after their separation from the ship, a shot echoed 



126 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

through the stillness, and Lieutenant Bellot and seven of 
the crew of the Prince Albert came to their rescue. After 
two previous attempts to find their long-lost comrades, 
they had succeeded in dragging the jolly-boat all the way 
from Batty Bay, where the Prince Albert was securely moored. 
Of this happy reunion, Captain Kennedy writes : — 

"It can hardly be a matter of surprise that the reaction in 
the state of our feelings, consequent upon this unexpected 
meeting with our long-lost friends, should have been striking 
and immediate, and in direct proportion to our former solici- 
tude and dejection. 

"It was but five weeks 'by the chime' since our disas- 
trous separation from the Prince Albert; but they were five 
years of dreary anxiety and despondency fast merging into 
something like despair. We had a jovial evening, let the 
reader be well assured, in our little launch that 17th of Oc- 
tober, and a jovial housewarming, out of Her Majesty's 
stores at Port Leopold, enjoyed none the less from the ab- 
sence of any grim vision of a long reckoning to discharge with 
'mine host' on the morrow. And we kept it up, too, let 
me tell you, with long yarns of our adventures, and rough old 
sea songs ; and in brimming cups of famous chocolate, ' cheer- 
ing but not inebriating,' drank most loyally (at Her Maj- 
esty's expense) a happy meeting with H. M. S. Erebus and 
Terror, and their gallant crews. 

"It was some days after this before our preparations for 
returning to the ship were completed. At last, on Wednes- 
day, the 22d, exactly six weeks after our first detention at 
Whaler Point, we set out ; after depositing a paper in the cyl- 
inder, containing information of our proceedings up to this 
date, and placing all the loose stores in proper order and 
security for the use of any party that should come after 
us. 

"Our provisions and 'traps' of all kinds were stowed on a 



RETURN OF TIIE PRINCE ALBERT 127 

strong sleigh. A mast was then set, and a sail hoisted in the 
jolly-boat, and away we went before a spanking fair wind 
over the smooth ice of Leopold Harbor at a rate which 'all 
the King's horses ' could hardly have been equal to. We had 
not gone half across the bay, however, before our sleigh, 
wholly unused to this style of locomotion, broke down, and 
it cost us the best part of the day, before we could repair our 
damage and start afresh." 

"In our endeavor to reach Mr. Bellot's encampment of 
the 16th," continues Mr. Kennedy, "we continued on foot 
longer than we should have done, and the consequence was, 
that being overtaken by night before looking for camping 
ground, we found ourselves, before we were aware or had 
time to reflect on the predicament we had got into, groping 
about, in the darkness, and with a heavy shower of snow 
falling, for some bit of terra firma, (for we had been all day 
upon the ice), where we could pitch the tent. We stumbled 
at last, after making our shins more freely acquainted than 
was altogether agreeable with the sharp edges of the broken 
ice, into a fine square of clear beach, between some heavy 
masses of stranded ice. Choosing out the softest part of a 
shelving rock of limestone of which the beach was composed, 
we pitched the tent, spread the oilcloth, and with some coals, 
which we had brought with us from Whaler Point, boiled a 
good kettle of tea for all hands. 

"All these preparations were, however, but introductory 
to another, which we found a most difficult problem indeed — 
namely, to contrive how we were all to pass the night in the 
single little tent we had brought with us. We all got in, 
certainly, and got the kettle in the middle ; but as for lying 
down to sleep it was utterly out of the question. A London 
omnibus on a racing day after five o'clock, was the only par- 
allel I could think of to our attempt to stow thirteen men, 
including our colossal carpenter, into a tent intended for six. 



128 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

At last, after some deliberation, it was arranged that we 
should sit down six in a row, on each side, which would leave 
us about three feet clear to stretch our legs. Mr. Bellot, 
who formed the thirteenth, being the most compact and stow- 
able of the party, agreed to squeeze in underneath them, 
stipulating only for a clear foot square for his head alongside 
the tea-kettle. Being unprovided with a candlestick, even if 
there had been room to place one anywhere, it was arranged 
that each of us should hold the candle in his hand for a quarter 
of an hour, and then pass it to his neighbor, and thus by the 
aid of our flickering taper, through the thick steam of the 
boiling kettle, we had just enough light to prevent us putting 
our tea into our neighbor's mouth, instead of our own. 

"'Well, boys,' suggests our ever jovial first mate, Henry 
Anderson, 'now we are fairly seated,. I'm thinking, as we 
can do nothing else, we had best make a night of it again. 
What say you to a song, Dick ? ' Whereupon, nothing loath, 
Mr. Richard Webb strikes up, in the first style of forecastle 
execution, 'Susannah, don't you cry for me,' which is, of 
course, received by the company with the utmost enthusiasm, 
'Mr. Webb, your health and song,' and general applause, 
and emptying of tea-cans, which Mr. John Smith, pleading 
inability to sing, undertakes to replenish for the night. 

'" Irvine, my lad, pass the candle, and give us the "Tailor." ' 
Mr. Irvine, you must understand, gentle reader, has dis- 
tinguished himself by some extraordinary performances on 
the blanket-bags, during our late detention at Whaler Point, 
in virtue of which he has been formally installed 'Tailor of 
the Expedition.' 

'"The Tailor' is accordingly given, con amove, and is a re- 
markable history of knight of the thimble, who, burying his 
goose, like Prospero his books, 'beyond the reach of plum- 
met,' becomes a 'Sailor bold,' and in that capacity enslaves 
the heart of a lovely lady of incalculable wealth, who, etc., etc. 



RETURN OF THE PRINCE ALBERT 129 

We all know the rest. 'Kenneth, you monster, take that 
clumsy foot of yours off my stomach, will you?' cried out 
poor Mr. Bellot, smothered beneath the weight of four-and- 
twenty legs, upon which the carpenter, in his eagerness to 
comply, probably drives his foot into Mr. Bellot's eye. And 
so, passing the song and the joke around, Mr. Bellot, occa- 
sionally making a sudden desperate effort to get up, and sit- 
ting down again in despair, — with a long ' blow ' like a 
grampus, we make what Anderson calls 'a night of it.' 
No management, however, can make our solitary candle 
last beyond twelve o'clock, or thereabouts. Notwithstand- 
ing this extinguisher to the entertainments of the evening, 
Mr. Anderson, while some are dozing and hob-a-nobbing in 
their dreams, may still be heard keeping it up with un- 
abated spirit in the dark, wakening every sleeper now and 
then with some tremendous chorus he has contrived to get 
up among his friends, for the 'Bay of Biscay,' or some favour- 
ite Greenland melody, with its inspiriting burthen of ' Cheeri- 
lie, ah ! cheeri-lie !'" 

A warm welcome awaited the lost ones, when a few days 
later they reached the ship. 

"With our return to the vessel," writes Mr. Kennedy, 
"may be said to have closed all our operations, as far as the 
ship was concerned, in the Arctic seas for the year 1851. 
There remained now only to make our arrangements for the 
vessel passing the next six or eight months where we were, 
and for preparing for our own winter journeys." 

Preparations were completed by January 5, 1852, and the 
morning of that day the men on snow-shoes, with dogs drag- 
ging the sledges, started off amid the cheers of their comrades 
and the yelping and barking of the dogs. 

"The first object of the journey," continues Mr. Kennedy, 
"was, of course, to ascertain whether Fury Beach had been 
a retreating point to any of Sir John Franklin's party since 



130 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

it was visited by Lieutenant Robinson, of the Enterprise, in 
1849. A secondary object, should our expectations in this 
respect not be realized, was to form a first depot of provi- 
sions here, with the view of carrying out a more extended 
search as soon as circumstances would permit. It was de- 
sirable at the same time to ascertain the state of the roads, 
by which, of course, I mean the yet untrodden surface of the 
snow or ice, in the direction in which we meant to go, before 
commencing any transport, on a large scale, between the 
ship and Fury Beach ; and it was thought advisable, there- 
fore, to go comparatively light. A small supply of pemmican 
was all we took with us in addition to our travelling re- 
quirements, consisting of a tent and poles, blanketing and 
provisions for a week, some guns and ammunition, fuel, and 
a cooking apparatus, in all weighing from two hundred to 
two hundred and fifty pounds." 

From the outset the travelling was difficult and arduous. 
"... not infrequently after toiling to the top of an incline, 
a lurch of the sleigh would send us careening in a very lively 
and unexpected manner to the bottom. Here follows an in- 
cident in our first day's journey, which caused us some amuse- 
ment at the time, and carried a lesson with it, whenever 
we had to encounter any of these obstacles afterward. 

"We had got about halfway up one of those villainous 
steeps, when our entire cortege gave unmistakable signs of 
a tendency to seek a sudden descent. There was just time 
for us to cast off the traces, all but poor Mr. Bellot, who was 
not sufficiently alert in disengaging his, when away went 
the sleigh and dogs, and Mr. Bellot after them into an abyss 
at the bottom, where the only indication of the catastrophe 
that could be seen was some six inches of Mr. Bellot's heels 
above the surface of the snow. We dug him out 'a wiser 
and a better man' for the rest of the journey, whenever any 
of these pestilent slopes had to be encountered thereafter." 



CAPTAIN KENNEDY— BELLOT 131 

On the 8th, the distance to Fury Beach being very short, 
Mr. Kennedy decided to leave the sledge and two of the 
men, and press on with Mr. Bellot, and one man unen- 
cumbered. 

"It may be imagined with what feelings," says Kennedy, 
"when we really had come upon it, we approached a spot 
round which so many hopes and anxieties had so long centred. 
Every object, distinguished by the moonlight in the distance, 
became animated to our imaginations, into the forms of our 
long-absent countrymen ; for had they been imprisoned 
anywhere in the Arctic Seas, within a reasonable distance 
of Fury Beach, here we felt assured some of them at least 
would have been now. But alas ! for these fond hopes ! 
How deeply, though perhaps unconsciously cherished, none 
of us probably suspected, till standing under the tattered 
covering of Somerset House, and gazing silently upon the 
solitude around us, we felt as we turned to look mournfully 
on each other's faces, that the last ray of hope as to this 
cherished imagination had fled from our hearts. It is perhaps 
necessary for the vigorous prosecution of any difficult object 
that for the moment, some particular circumstance in the 
chain of operations by which it is to be effected, should seem 
to us so vitally important that the eye is blinded to all beyond. 
The spot on which we now stood had so long been associated 
in our minds with some clue to the discovery of the solution 
of the painful mystery which hung over the fate of Franklin, 
and had so long unconsciously perhaps coloured all our 
thought, that it was not without a pang, and a feeling as if 
the main purpose of our expedition had been defeated, that 
we found all our long-cherished anticipations shattered at a 
blow by the scene which met our eyes. Thus my friend and 
I stood paralyzed at the death-like solitude around us. No 
vestige of the visit of a human being was here since Lieu- 
tenant Robinson had examined the depot in 1849. The 



132 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

stores, still in the most perfect preservation, were precisely 
in the well-arranged condition, described in the clear report 
of that energetic officer." 

"His own notice of his visit," continues Mr. Kennedy, 
"was deeply buried in the snow, and the index staff he had 
placed over it was thrown down and gnawed by the foxes. 
Wearied with a long and fruitless examination we took up 
our quarters for a repose of a few hours in Somerset House, 
the frame of which was still standing entire, but the cover- 
ing blown to rags by the wind, and one end of the house nearly 
filled with snow. We lighted a fire on the stove which had 
heated the end occupied by Sir John Ross's crew during the 
dreary winter of 1832-33. 

"After refreshing ourselves with a warm supper, and nod- 
ding for a few hours over the fire, we set out about 11 p.m. 
on our return to our encampment, which we reached by 2 a.m. 
of the following morning. Our return from this point to the 
ship, which we reached about 5 p.m. of Saturday the 10th, 
was not marked by any incident worthy of notice. 

"We had deposited at our encampment a 90-pound 
case of pemmican, a bag of coals, two muskets, and some 
ammunition, which, while it served as a reserve for future 
explorations in this direction, materially lightened the labour 
of the dogs, and allowed iis time for a more minute examina- 
tion of the coast than we had been able to make during the 
outward journey. The result, however, was not in any 
respect more successful. No traces of any kind were discov- 
ered which could throw light on the objects of our search. 

"Thus ended our first journey to Fury Beach, and its re- 
sults satisfied us that, in the present state of the ice in Prince 
Regent's Inlet, the more extended explorations of- the coast- 
line, which we had calculated on being able to commence 
on our return to the ship, could not now be safely undertaken, 
and must for the present be postponed. We were most 



CAPTAIN KENNEDY 133 

reluctantly compelled, therefore, to pass the next month in 
the ship, occupied in the same general routine duties as 
those on which we had been during the earlier part of the 
winter." 

Captain Kennedy gives a vivid description of Arctic gales 
and the dangers of travel during a tempest. ''About eight 
a.m. in the morning of the 13th February," he writes, "Mr. 
Bellot, the carpenter, Andrew Irvine, Henry Anderson (the 
first mate), and myself left the ship, taking with us two cases 
of pemmican, and three tin jars, each containing two gallons 
of spirits of wine, on a sledge, drawn by five Eskimo dogs, 
for the purpose of depositing them a short distance on the 
way to Fury Beach, and returning in the evening. After 
proceeding for a few hours, and making very fair progress 
along a tolerably good path, a strong wind arose, which by one 
p.m. had increased to a perfect hurricane, -so thickly charged 
with snow that, in attempting to cross a bay on our return, 
we lost sight of the land by which our course homeward 
had been guided. In short, after wandering about for some 
time, scarcely able to distinguish each other at the distance 
of a few paces, we found that we had fairly lost our way. In 
this dilemma, we set two of the five dogs loose from the 
sledge, in the hope that they would act as guides better than 
when drawing ; but this proved to be a mistake, as they 
would not leave the others. At last, however, they all set 
off together, taking the sledge with them and leaving us to 
our fate. As we afterwards found, they reached the ship 
without any difficulty, and, as may readily be . supposed, put 
every one on board in a perfect fever of terror and anxiety as 
to what had become of us. In the meantime, we had gone 
on floundering over broken ice, until we had once more 
stumbled on the land, but where or what the land was we 
had fallen upon, nobody knew. It was something certainly 
to know we were not marching over the Inlet or out to sea, in 



134 THE QBE AT WHITE NOBTH 

which case we would have marched on, and in all probability 
never returned ; but in other respects we had rather lost 
than gained by getting on terra firma. With an atmosphere 
as thick as pea-soup, and no sun, moon, or stars to be seen, 
there was no keeping the shore (and to go on one side or the 
other was to incur the certainty of losing ourselves again, 
either on the Inlet or on the land) without hugging close up 
and into a break-neck line of stranded fragments of ice, 
which indicated the direction of the beach. 

"Along this formidable path we floundered on — now 
coming bump up against some huge fragment of ice, or pitch- 
ing over the top of it into a hole, excavated in the snow at the 
bottom, by the whirling eddies of the wind ; now walking, 
now crawling, occasionally tumbling into the snow, until 
we were all brought up by a cry of pain from one of the men 
who had met a 'bouleversement' over the edge of a bank of 
ice. It was a sad accident, but the worst of it was, that 
after setting him on his legs, nothing could induce him to 
move a step farther. Here he was, and here he maintained he 
must remain i coute qui coute.' There was no reasoning with 
the poor fellow, who certainly had sustained a very severe 
injury, but not anything like so bad as he had imagined it, 
and it would never do to leave him lying here. So feigning 
to take him at his word, we proposed to bundle him up in a 
buffalo-robe and bury him in the snow for the night — - 
comforting him with the assurance that we would certainly 
come back for him in the morning. This Arctic prescription 
had a magical effect upon our patient — the back and the 
broken bones were speedily forgotten, and in a short time 
he was on his legs again, and we all trudging on once more in 
the old rough and tumble style of progression, till about 
midnight, we found ourselves standing under the lee of some- 
thing which looked like a bank of snow, but which, to our 
great gratification, proved to be the powder house we had 



CAPTAIN KENNEDY 135 

erected on shore in the beginning of the winter. A con- 
sultation was now held whether we should cut our way into 
it and pass the night here, 'accoutred as we were/ or make 
for the ship, which we now knew could not be far off. Our 
decision was for the latter, and the only question now was, 
how to steer for the vessel. This, too, was decided upon at 
last, by each of the party pointing in turn, in the direction in 
which he thought the vessel lay, and then taking the mean 
of the bearings. To prevent our separating in the drift 
(for some of the party had by this time got so benumbed with 
cold, as to be unable to use their hands to clear their eye- 
lids, and had thus become literally blind with the accumula- 
tion of the snow on their eyes), it was agreed that at certain 
intervals we should call and answer each other's names, and 
that those whose eyes had suffered least should take the 
others in tow. In this order, we proceeded for the vessel, and 
fortunately by the guidance of a solitary star, that could be 
faintly distinguished through the drift, got near enough to the 
ship to hear the wind whistling through the shrouds and were 
thus guided, rather by the ear than by the eye, to her position, 
and soon afterwards found ourselves on board, where we were 
received once more as those from the dead. 

"These short journeys, however arduous, in which caches 
were established for future use, were only preliminary skir- 
mishes to the 'grand journey' planned by Captain Kennedy 
with much forethought and in preparation for which days 
had been occupied in making suitable apparel, trappings, and 
sledges. It was expected that the journey would take at 
least three months. The particular direction our route 
ought to assume, was, of course, a matter to be regulated 
very much by the nature of the circumstances that might 
arise in the course of it. On one point only we were decided, 
viz. that it should embrace Cape Walker to which, as the 
point of departure of Sir John Franklin for the unknown 



136 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

regions to the W. and S.W., had he decided upon this course, 
and not gone up Wellington Channel, much interest naturally 
attached. 

"There were fourteen of the crew disposable in the ship," 
continues Captain Kennedy, "of whom four picked men were 
to go with Mr. Bellot and myself to Cape Walker, while the 
rest were to accompany us, as a fatigue party, as far as Fury 
Beach, which was to form the starting-point of the journey. 
Parties sent out on different occasions during the last two 
months, had taken in advance six cases of pemmican, six 
muskets, and a bag of coals. One case of pemmican, as 
already mentioned, had been deposited in January a few miles 
north of Fury Point. Our provisions, clothing, and bedding, 
drawn upon two Indian sleighs by our five dogs, had, of course, 
been reduced to whatever was strictly, indispensable. Five 
gallons of spirits of wine were taken as a substitute for fuel. 
With proper management and economy, we hoped to make 
this last us till the spring, when, by the plan we proposed 
adopting, of travelling during the night instead of the day, 
we trusted, should a necessity arise for so doing, to be able 
to dispense with the use of fuel altogether. 

" On the morning of the 20th of February, a scene of general 
bustle and excitement showed that all our arrangements had 
been completed, and that the long-deferred start for the grand 
journey was about to take place. A detachment of five men, 
Mr. Bellot, and myself, were all that could leave the ship at 
this time ; the others appointed to join us being still under 
the doctor's attendance for slight and temporary incon- 
venience, frost-bites, etc. The whole crew, however, had 
mustered to see us as far as the south point of Batty Bay, all 
but our dear Hepburn, who, unable to control his manly 
emotion at parting with so many old friends, and above all 
at being unable to accompany us, took a touching farewell 
of us at the vessel: 'God bless you,' said he, grasping my 



CAPTAIN KENNEDY 137 

hand with affectionate warmth, 'I cannot accompany you, 
and I cannot let all these men witness my emotion : let me 
part with you here, and may God grant that we meet in life 
and health, after the long and hazardous journey you are 
about to undertake.' Though this veteran hero saw much 
hardship and hazard in store before us, he would have seen 
none whatever had he been allowed to accompany us, but 
I could not for a moment entertain the idea of employing 
him on a journey, when there were so many younger men all 
emulous to be engaged on it, and more particularly when 
his services on board ship were so indispensable ; and, by 
his kindly consenting to remain, I was relieved of all anxiety 
as respected the Prince Albert. 

"Reaching the south point of Batty Bay, with our friendly 
escort, our two parties once more separated with many kindly 
and touching farewells and then, with three hearty cheers, 
diverging in our different routes, we were soon lost to each 
other in the mist and snow." 

The fury of the equinoctial gales greatly impeded the ad- 
vance of the party, frequently detaining them for several 
days at a time. 

Sledges, moccasins, and snow-shoes were greatly dam- 
aged under the hard conditions of travel, and it was found 
necessary when the whole party had assembled at Fury Beach 
to send back to the ship for additional supplies. They also 
made use of the excellent stores found at the Fury Beach 
which had been left there thirty years before. It was de- 
cided, after careful calculation, that six men could carry 
provisions for the proposed journey of three months' dura- 
tion ; that fourteen men should travel as far as Brentford 
Bay, at which point eight would return to the ship, the re- 
maining six to proceed, carrying with them all provisions 
and necessaries for the remainder of the trip. 

The total dead weight of this equipment, including sledges 



138 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

and tackling, might be estimated at about two thousand pounds. 
" The whole was lashed down/' writes Kennedy, " to the 
smallest possible compass on four flat-bottomed Indian sleighs, 
of which our five Eskimo dogs, assisted by two men to each 
sleigh, took two, while the rest of the men took the other two." 

The day of their start proved mild and pleasant, and at 
first the travelling was good, the ice being sufficiently smooth 
to make easy and rapid progress. But such good fortune 
did not remain with them long, and the inevitable gales made 
travelling most difficult and painful. The usual snow huts 
were erected at night, under which they took such comfort as 
their short hours of rest afforded them. Frost-bites caused 
them much suffering, and to protect their faces they resorted 
to curious expedients. 

"For the eyes," writes Kennedy, "we had goggles of 
glass, of wire-gauze, of crape, or of plain wood with a slit 
in the centre, in the manner of Eskimos. For the face, 
some had cloth-masks, with neat little crevices for the mouth, 
nose, and eyes ; others were muffled up in the ordinary 
chin-cloth, and, for that most troublesome of the facial 
members, the nose, a strong party, with our always original 
carpenter at their head, had gutta-percha noses, lined with 
delicate soft flannel." Though admirable in theory, these 
contrivances proved failures in practice, and were all discarded 
except the chin-cloths and goggles. 

On the 6th of April they reached Brentford Bay, and the 
fatigue party began their retrograde journey to the ship. At 
this point Kennedy discovered a strait running westward, 
separating North Somerset from Boothia Felix. This he 
named Bellot Strait, in honour of the brave young officer 
who had secured the affectionate regard of commander and 
crew. From here the party crossed Victoria Strait to Prince 
of Wales Land, naming many of the prominent headlands, 
bays, and islands. 



CAPTAIN KENNEDY 139 

On April 17 the thermometer stood at plus 22, "a tem- 
perature," writes Kennedy, "which, to our sensations, was 
absolutely oppressive. One of our dogs, -through over-exer- 
tion, fainted in his traces, and lay gasping for breath for a 
quarter of an hour ; but after recovering, went on as merrily 
as ever. These faithful creatures were perfect treasures to 
us throughout the journey. They were all suffering, like 
ourselves, from snow-blindness, but did not in the least 
relax their exertions on this account. The Eskimo's dog is, 
in fact, the camel of these northern deserts ; the faithful 
attendant of man, and the sharer of his labors and priva- 
tions." 

The flat country over which they were travelling, and the 
close proximity of the Magnetic Pole, which rendered their 
compass of little use, made it particularly difficult to keep a 
westerly course. It was hoped that this direction would lead 
to a sea which would conduct them northward to Cape 
Walker. From this point they hoped to ascertain if there 
was any westward channel or strait through which Sir John 
Franklin might have penetrated. After marching for thir- 
teen days, and reaching the hundredth degree of west longi- 
tude, without coming to a sea, Kennedy decided to turn north- 
ward to Cape Walker. 

"Being now satisfied," he writes, "that Sir James Ross 
had, in his land journey along the western shore of North 
Somerset, in 1849, mistaken the very low level land over 
which we had been travelling for a western sea, I felt no 
longer justified in continuing a western course. Whatever 
passage might exist to the south-west of Cape Walker, I felt 
assured must now be on our north. I determined therefore, 
from this time forward, to direct our course northward, until 
we should fall upon some channel which we knew must exist 
not far from us, in this direction, by which Franklin might 
have passed to the southwest." 



140 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The channel for which they were in search could not be 
found. Boisterous gales still pursued them, and the men 
began to show the effects of exhaustion and exposure in the 
form of the dreaded scurvy. They, therefore, turned east- 
ward again and, reaching Cape Burney, they made next for 
Cape Walker, which first loomed in the distance the 4th of 
May. Their disappointment was great at finding no trace of 
Franklin's expedition. 

"Wearied and dispirited beyond description," writes 
Captain Kennedy, "at the fruitless result of our long and 
anxious labours, we returned to our encampment, guided 
through a heavy snow-storm by the report of guns, which I 
had directed to be fired every fifteen minutes, to make prep- 
aration for our return homeward. This could be effected 
either by pushing directly for Batty Bay, across North Somer- 
set, a distance in a straight line of not more than six days' 
journey, or by following the coast round to Whaler Point, 
and thence to the ship." The latter route was chosen, though 
the distance was nearly double that of the other, and after 
an absence of ninety-seven days and covering about eleven 
hundred miles, they at last reached the ship May 30. A 
remarkable journey "for six men and five dogs, dragging for 
most of the way two thousand pounds' weight, and sleeping 
in snowhouses, encamping on frozen seas, and rarely having 
a fire when they halted to recruit." 

Preparations for the return to England were now com- 
menced. June and July passed without the vessel becoming 
free from the ice, but by the 6th of August, after sawing and 
blasting, the little craft was liberated. At Beechey Island, 
which Captain Kennedy reached the 19th, he found the depot 
ship North Star, now attached to Sir E. Belcher's expedition, 
engaged in sawing into winter quarters. Proceeding in her 
course, the Prince Albert reached England, after an uneventful 
voyage, October 7, 1853. 



CHAPTER IX 

Search for Sir John Franklin continued: Sir Edward Belcher's 
squadron. — Ingleficld. — Rae's journey. — Discovery of North- 
west Passage by Captain M'Clure. — Death of Bellot. 

Interest in the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin was 
in no wise lessened by the unexpected return to England of 
the searching squadron in 1851. Dr. Rae's land journey of 
over eight hundred miles, including a thorough examination 
of the east and north coast of Victoria Land, had thrown 
no new light on the tragic situation. The American coast 
had now been diligently examined from the entrance of Beh- 
ring Strait to the head of Hudson Bay, and it was generally 
believed that Franklin had never reached so low a latitude. 

On April 28, 1852, a thoroughly equipped squadron of 
five vessels — the Assistance, the Resolute, and the North Star, 
and two steamers, the Pioneer and Intrepid — sailed from 
England under the command of Sir Edward Belcher. The 
Assistance and Pioneer were to sail up Wellington Channel. 
The Resolute and Intrepid, under command of Captain Kellett, 
were to proceed to Melville Island, there to deposit provisions 
for the use of Captain Collinson and Commander M'Clure, 
should they succeed in making the passage from Behring 
Strait, for which, as we have seen, they had set sail in Janu- 
ary, 1850. The North Star was to remain at Beechey Island 
as a depot store ship. 

By the 6th of July the squadron was in Baffin Bay, 
accompanied by a fleet of whalers. The ice conditions proved 
exasperating ; the Assistance, Pioneer, and Resolute were beset 
and detained for a time, while the rest of the fleet, accom- 

141 



142 



THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 



panied by the whalers, stretched in a long train of some three 
quarters of a mile in length and slowly pushed their way 
through a narrow lane of water. 

The American whaler, McLellan, had the lead; the North 
Star of the English squadron followed the McLellan. The 

weather conditions 



were most favour- 
able ; no anxiety 
was felt for the 
safety of the vessels, 
in spite of the fact 
that the lane of 
water gradually 
closed and pre- 
vented the ships 
from advancing or 
retreating untilJuly 
7, when the report 
was made that the 
McLellan was 
nipped in the ice 
and her crew mak- 
ing ready to aban- 
don her. Carpen- 
ters, under orders 
of Sir Edward Bel- 
cher, put a few charges of powder in the ice, to relieve the 
pressure. 

The next day, however, the McLellan was nipped harder 
than ever with the water pouring into her in a steady stream. 
While drifting unmanageable, first into one ship and then 
into another, she was boarded by English whalemen who 
proceeded to ransack and plunder her, until, at the Captain's 
request, Sir Edward Belcher placed sentries on board to 




By permission of The Illustrated London News. 
Admiral Sir Edward Belcher. 



SIR EDWARD BELCHERS SQUADRON 143 

prevent further loot, and working parties proceeded to take 
inventory of her stores, and remove them to a safe distance. 
In a day or two the McLellan had sunk to the water's edge, 
and for the safety of the rest of the fleet, a charge or two of 
powder put her out of the way. 

The squadron reached its headquarters at Beechey Island, 
August 10. Wellington Channel and Barrow Strait were 
found free from ice, and on the 14th, Sir Edward Belcher, with 
the Pioneer and Assistance, proceeded up the Channel. The 
next day Captain Kellett, with the Resolute and Intrepid, sailed 
in open water for Melville Island. 

While Sir Edward Belcher's squadron was making its ardu- 
ous passage to Beechey Island, Lady Franklin had refitted 
the screw-steamer Isabel and placed it under Commander In- 
glefield, R. N., with instructions to investigate the rumour 
brought home by Sir John Ross to the effect that Franklin 
and his crew had been murdered by natives at Wolstenholme 
Sound. 

Setting sail from England, July 6, 1852, the little Isabel 
made for the northern shores of Baffin Bay, reached a higher 
latitude up Whale Sound than any previous vessel, and later 
pushed through Smith Sound as far as latitude 78° 28' 21" 
N., without discovering any opposing land. Captain 
Inglefield discovered that Smith Sound, generally supposed to 
be narrow, was at least thirty-six miles across, expanding con- 
siderably to the northward. The shore seemed comparatively 
free from snow, and the rocks appeared of their natural colour. 

Ice was met in considerable quantities, and though Captain 
Inglefield was ambitious to steam through, a fortunate gale 
arose which blew with such violence that the Isabel was forced 
back, thus saving her in all probability from a dreary winter 
in the ice. 

By the 7th of September, the Isabel sighted the North Star 
at Beechey Island. 



144 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

"When we were near enough to see from our crow's-nest 
the mast heads of the North Star, I had ordered one of the 
twelve pounders to be fired, and the people who were working 
on shore were greatly puzzled at hearing such a sound, as 
they believed that nothing human but their own party could 
be within hundreds of miles of them." 

Captain Inglefield soon "waited upon" Captain Pullen, 
and the letters for Sir Edward Belcher's squadron brought 
out by the Isabel were placed upon the North Star. A few 
hours later the Isabel put off to sea, carrying letters from 
officers and crew of the North Star to relatives and friends in 
England. 

By the 12th the Isabel stood off Mount Possession, by the 
14th Cape Bowen, and here Captain Inglefield landed to 
look for traces and erect a cairn ; nothing was discovered but 
the bold footprint of a huge bear and the tiny tracks of an 
Arctic fox. The 23d found them in Davis Strait. Here a 
terrific gale was encountered, which lasted four days and 
"accompanied," writes Captain Inglefield, "with the heaviest 
sea I had ever seen, even off Cape Horn. ..." 

As soon as the storm abated, they put for the nearest port 
to undergo necessary repairs, and by October 2 they made a 
settlement off Hunde Islands, a little south of Whalefish 
Islands. The governor came on board to see what was 
wanted, and, the next day being Sunday, the crew were given 
shore leave, and a general day of rest was enjoyed. 

On the 5th, he writes, "I received a message from the gov- 
ernor, that it was the King of Denmark's birthday, the Es- 
kimos would assemble at his house, and have a dance, and 
the pleasure of my company was solicited for the occasion ; 
accordingly at six o'clock I repaired to the wooden palace of 
his Excellency, and there found, crammed into a smallish 
chamber, as many Eskimos as could conveniently stand. 

"I had prepared myself with certain bottles by which 



INGLEFIELD 145 

punch could be quickly made ; and several officers and crew 
joining the party, by their assistance, each of the Eskimo 
ladies was first supplied with a glass full of the beverage, 
and afterward the gentlemen, when I made them understand 
that they were to give three cheers for the King of Denmark, 
which was done with a vigour and goodheartedness, that 
made the wooden walls echo again. 

"I had prepared another treat for them, which I am quite 
sure was to many the most agreeable of the two. My cox- 
swain came in to tell me when all was ready, and then I begged 
the governor would tell the party to go outside where I had 
something to show them. 

"When all were assembled, the booming of one of our guns, 
which by signal was fired from the vessel, not a little alarmed 
some of the most timid, and their fear was not much allayed, 
when, from under their very noses, a shower of rockets flew 
into mid-air, with a whirl that startled some of the more 
ancient sages amongst them, though when no damage was 
found to accrue to any of the party, the shouts of joy over- 
powered the noise of the rockets. The blue lights and white 
lights, which were burnt to enliven the performance, were 
objects of great curiosity, and I could see some enquiring faces, 
eagerly watching our movements, as the port-fires were 
placed to ignite them." 

"Dancing was afterwards commenced," continues Captain 
Inglefield, "and feeling that it was my duty to lead off with 
the governor's wife, who was an Eskimo, I begged the hon- 
our of her hand, for a dance, in the best Eskimo of which I 
was master, and to the scraping of a disabled fiddle bound 
round with twine and splints, I launched into the mysteries 
of an Eskimo quadrille, which, but for the strenuous exer- 
tions of my partner, to keep me right, I should certainly have 
set into utter confusion. 

"It was composed of a chaine des dames and a reel, com- 



146 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

plex to a wonderful degree, and exhausting to a frightful ex- 
tent ; and yet it appeared to be the determination of the whole 
party to continue at this one figure till tired nature sunk. 

"Unaccustomed to this kind of violent exercise, I was soon 
knocked up, and tried, though unsuccessfully, to make my 
escape ; but at last I had the gratification of observing an 
elderly lady opposite beginning to falter, and out of compli- 
ment to her I presume this dance was terminated. 

"The Eskimos seem to think it is impossible to be too 
warm, so the doors and windows were tightly closed, and 
certain lamps and tallow candles (with which I had supplied 
his Excellency) soon brought the temperature up to blood heat. 

"After resting from my labour, I determined to try their 
waltz, which I found was not very unlike ours, being per- 
formed somewhat in the same manner, and the fair ladies 
with whom I now alternately figured instructing me in the 
mysteries of the measure. Some of my sailors having ob- 
tained permission to attend the ball, they were now solicited 
to give a specimen of their skill, and accordingly a sailor's 
hornpipe and reel, with the usual heel and toe accompaniment, 
met with great applause. I had had sufficient fun by nine 
o'clock, but the party did not break up till after twelve ; 
before I went away, however, at my special request, some 
Eskimo melodies were sung by the party, and afterwards a 
Danish national hymn by the governor. When the officers 
and men were returning in their boat to the ship they were 
serenaded by the ladies of the party, who joining hand-in- 
hand walked along the rocks towards the ship, singing a 
plaintive air, which might well have been taken for their 
evening hymn. And such it may have been, for these poor 
people, semi-civilized and instructed as they have been by 
the Danes, are full of fervour and zeal for their religion, 
the Lutheran, and show more real moral principle than any 
nation I ever visited." 



INGLEFIELD 



147 



By the 7th of October the Isabel was ready for sea, bat 
encountered terrific gales. Upon the advice of the ice- 
masters, Captain Inglefield determined to return to England 
in spite of a strong desire to winter and complete the search 
of the west coast of Baffin Bay by sledge journeys in the 
spring and the survey of Davis Strait from Cape Walsingham 
south, as far as Newfoundland. However, a continuance of 
bad weather made such a course impracticable, and by 
November 4 the Isabel anchored at Stromness ; by the 10th 
of November she made Peterhead by way of Pentland Firth. 

"Besides pen- 

m 



etrating one hun- 
dred and forty 
miles further 
than previous 
navigators, and 
finding an open 
sea stretching 
northwards, 
from Baffin's 
Bay, to at least 
the latitude of 
80 °, Captain 
Inglefield discov- 
ered a strait in 
about 771°, 
which he named 
Murchison 
Strait, and which 
he supposed to 
form the north- 
ern boundary to Greenland. " His careful survey of the eastern 
side of Baffin Bay, from Carey Islands to Cape Alexander, and 
his approach to Jones Sound, all contributed interesting 




By permission of The Illustrated London News. 
Admiral Sir Edward Inglefield, R. N. 



148 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

data to geographical knowledge, but though the natives 
with whom he met were carefully interrogated, no light was 
thrown on the fate of Sir John Franklin or his men, and 
the utter falsity of the story told by Sir John Ross's inter- 
preter was satisfactorily established. 

Early in the year 1853, three expeditions were fitted out, 
to assist Sir Edward Belcher's squadron already in the field, 
and to continue the search for Sir John Franklin. 

The Rattlesnake, under Commander Trollope, and the 
Isabel — again refitted by Lady Franklin, and put in com- 
mand of Mr. Kennedy — set out with instructions to sail for 
Behring Strait and carry supplies to Captains Collinson and 
M'Clure. Dr. Rae set out again for the further examination 
of the coast of Boothia, and Captain Inglefield was sent to 
Barrow Strait in command of the Phoenix and Lady Franklin, 
for the purpose of reenforcing Sir Edward Belcher. 

In America the second Grinnell expedition was fitted out 
about the same time for the purpose of exploring the passages 
leading out of Baffin Bay into the unknown oceans around 
the Pole, and was placed under the command of Dr. E. K. 
Kane, U. S. N., who had sailed under Lieutenant De Haven 
in the first Grinnell expedition. 

In the autumn of 1853, the deep interest of the British 
nation was aroused by the return of Captain Inglefield of the 
Phoenix with despatches from the Arctic regions, containing 
the news that the Northwest Passage had at length been 
successfully accomplished by Captain M'Clure of the In- 
vestigator, who had passed through Behring Strait and sailed 
within a few miles of the most westerly discoveries made from 
the eastern side of America, at which point he had been frozen 
up for more than two years. 

Parties from the Investigator had walked over the frozen 
ocean ; and Lieutenant Cresswell, the bearer of the despatches 
from Captain M'Clure, had sailed to England, by the Atlantic 



CAPTAIN M'CLUBE 149 

Ocean, having thus passed through the far-famed, much- 
sought-after, and, at length, discovered Northwest Passage. 

It will be remembered that Captains Collinson and M'Clure 
sailed for Behring Strait in 1850, through which, in com- 
pany with the Plover and Herald, they endeavoured to pass. 

The Investigator, Captain M'Clure, was last seen on August 
4, 1850, bearing gallantly into the heart of the "Polar Pack." 

Captain Collinson, in the Enterprise, had concluded to winter 
at Hongkong, and not until May, 1851, did he return to 
Behring Strait, which he succeeded in entering. In the 
meantime, the Herald had returned to England, while the 
Plover remained some time at Port Clarence as a reserve for 
the vessels to fall back upon. 

On parting company with the Herald in Behring Strait in 
July, 1850, Captain M'Clure stood north-northwest with a 
fresh breeze. For several days the Investigator struggled 
with the ice pack, now boring through the masses, or winding 
among the lanes of open water. By the 7th of August they 
had rounded Point Barrow, at which point clear water was seen 
from the "crow's nest." 

"The wind," writes M'Clure, "almost immediately facing, 
the boats were all manned, and towing commenced amid songs 
and cheers, which continued with unabated good humour 
for six hours, when this laborious work was brought to a suc- 
cessful termination. Being in perfectly clear water in Smith's 
Bay, a light air springing up, we worked to the eastward. 
At two a.m. of the 8th, being off Point Drew, sent Mr. Court 
(second mate) on shore to erect a cairn, and bury a notice of 
our having passed. Upon landing, we were met by three 
natives, who at first were very timid ; but upon exchanging 
signs of friendship, which consisted of raising the arms three 
times over the head, they approached the boat, and after the 
pleasant salutation of rubbing noses, became very communi- 
cative, when, by the assistance of our valuable interpreter, 



150 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Mr. Miertsching, we found the tribe consisted of ten tents 
(this being the only approach to their numbers he could ob- 
tain), that they had arrived only three days previously, and 
that they hold communication with a party inland, who trade 
with the Russian Fur Company. The evening before, they 
had observed us, but could not imagine what large trees were 
moving about (our masts) and all the tribe had assembled on 
the beach to look at them, when they agreed that it was some- 
thing very extraordinary, and left the three men who met the 
boat, to watch ! They also gave the pleasing intelligence 
that we should find open water along the coast from about 
•three to five miles distant during the summer, that the heavy 
ice very seldom came in, or never left the land farther than 
at present, that they did not know if there were any islands 
as they found it impossible to go in their kayaks, when in 
pursuit of seals, farther than one day's journey to the main 
ice, and then the lanes of water allowed of their proceeding 
three quarters of a day farther, which brought them to very 
large and high ice, with not space enough in any part of 
it to allow their kayaks to enter. The probable distance, Mr. 
Miertsching therefore estimates, from his knowledge of the 
Eskimo habits, to be about forty miles off shore, and, 
from what I have seen of the pack, I am inclined to think 
this is perfectly correct, for a more unbroken mass I never 
witnessed." 

These natives, whose entire lives had been spent between 
the Coppermine River and Point Barrow, knew nothing of 
Franklin's party, and it was therefore concluded by Captain 
M'Clure that the Erebus and Terror had not been lost on these 
shores. 

For the next four or five hundred miles they skirted slowly 
the coast, part of the time in such shallow water that they 
ran aground, but fortunately without damage to the ship. 
The narrow lanes opening in the ice made it often necessary 



CAPTAIN M'CLUBE 151 

to retrace their course, but by the 21st of August they had 
passed the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and made the 
Pelly Islands. 

Upon reaching Warren Point, natives were seen on shore, 
and Captain M'Clure, desiring, if possible, to send despatches 
by them to the Hudson Bay Company's posts on the 
Mackenzie, the boats were ordered out. 

It was found that these Eskimos had no communication 
with the Mackenzie, being at war with the neighbouring tribes, 
and having had several skirmishes with the Indians of that 
quarter. A chief of the tribe had a flat brass button sus- 
pended from his ear, and in explanation of where he got it, 
he replied: "It had been taken from a white man, who had 
been killed by one of his tribe. The white man belonged to a 
party which had landed at Point Warren, and there built a 
house ; nobody knew how they came, as they had no boat, 
but they went inland. The man killed had strayed from the 
party, and he (the chief) and his son had buried him upon a 
hill at a little distance." It could not be ascertained just 
when this event occurred, and though Captain M'Clure 
tried to investigate the matter, only two very old wooden huts 
were found, and no grave of the white man was discovered. 

Natives were constantly encountered as the Investigator 
proceeded, and though they seemed at first hostile and 
disinclined to open communication, they invariably became 
friendly and gratefully accepted the various presents bestowed 
upon them. 

On September 5, Captain M'Clure writes : — 

"The weather, which had been squally, accompanied by 
a thick fog during the early part of the day, cleared towards 
noon, when a large volume of smoke was observed about 
twelve miles south-west. ... As divers opinions were in 
circulation respecting its probable cause, and the ice-mate 
having positively reported that from the crow's nest he could 



152 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

distinguish several persons moving about, dressed in white 
shirts, and observed some white tents in the hollow of the 
cliff, I certainly had every reason to imagine they were a party 
of Europeans in distress, convinced that no travellers would 
remain for so long a period as we had remarked the smoke. For 
their pleasure, therefore, to satisfy myself, equally as others, 
I determined to send a boat on shore, as it was now calm. 
The first whate-boat, under Lieutenant Cresswell, with Dr. 
Armstrong, and Mr. Miertsching, was despatched to examine 
into the cause, who, on their return, reported the smoke to 
emanate from fifteen small mounds of volcanic appearance, 
occupying a space of about fifty yards, the place strongly 
impregnated with sulphur, the lower mounds being about 
thirty feet above the sea-level, the highest about fifty feet. 
The land in its vicinity was blue clay, much intersected with 
ravines and deep water-courses, varying in elevation from 
three hundred to five hundred feet. The mark of a reindeer 
was traced to a small pond of water immediately abov*e the 
mounds. Notice of our having landed was left, which would 
not long remain, as the cliff is evidently crumbling away. 
Thus the mystery of the white shirts and tents was most 
satisfactorily explained." 

Early in the morning of the 6th of September they were 
off the small islands near Cape Parry ; on the same day high 
land was observed on the port bow. Up to this time they 
had been sailing along a shore which had been surveyed by 
Franklin, Back, Dease, Simpson, and others, although theirs 
was the first ship that had sailed in these waters. 

The discovery of new territory was therefore joyfully re- 
ceived, and, landing in the whale-boat and cutter, formal 
possession was taken in the name of "Her Most Gracious 
Majesty" and the name "Baring's Island" bestowed upon it 
in honour of the first lord of the Admiralty. After depositing 
a record, they returned to the ship and sailed along the eastern 



CAPTAIN M'CLURE 153 

coast, as it was more free of ice than that on the west. Later 
it was found that the island was one whose extreme north- 
eastern shore had been faintly seen by Parry in 1820 and given 
by him the name of "Banks' Land." 

"We observed," writes Captain M'Clure, "numerous 
traces of reindeer, hare, and wild-fowl ; moss and divers 
species of wild-flowers were also in great abundance ; many 
specimens of them, equally as of the object of interest to the 
naturalist, were selected with much care by Dr. Armstrong. 
From an elevation obtained of about five hundred feet, we 
had a fine view towards the interior, which was well clothed 
with moss, giving a verdant appearance to the ranges of hills 
that rose gradually to between two thousand and three thou- 
sand feet, intersected with ravines, which must convey a co- 
pious supply of water to a large lake situated in the centre 
of a wide plain, about fifteen miles distant ; the sight to sea- 
ward was favourable in the extreme : open water, with a very 
small quantity of ice, for the distance of full forty miles 
towards the east, insured good progress in that direction. 
The weather becoming foggy, our lead was the only guide un- 
til ten a.m. of the 9th ; it then cleared for a short time, when 
land was observed to the eastward, about fifteen miles distant, 
extending to the northward as far as the eye could reach. 

" The mountains in the interior are lofty and snow-covered, 
while the low ground is quite free. Several very remark- 
able peaks were discernible, apparently of volcanic origin. 
This discovery was named Prince Albert's Land. The wind 
becoming fair, and the weather clearing, all the studding sails 
were set, with the hope of reaching Barrow's Strait, from 
which we were now distant about seventy miles. The water 
was tolerably clear in that direction, although much ice was 
lying against the western land ; . . . much loose ice was also 
in motion, and while endeavoring to run between two floes, 
at the rate of four knots, they closed so rapidly, one upon 



154 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

either beam, that our way was instantly stopped, and the ves- 
sel lifted considerably ; in this position we were retained a 
quarter of an hour, when the pressure eased, and we proceeded. 
Our advance was of short duration, as at two p.m. the wind 
suddenly shifted to the northeast, and began to freshen ; the 
water, which a few hours previous had excited sanguine hopes 
of a good run, became soon so thickly studded with floes, 
that about four p.m. there was scarcely sufficient to keep the 
ship freed ; this by much exertion was however effected until 
two a.m. of the 14th, when we were beset." 

From now on, baffling winds and impenetrable floes made 
progress almost impossible. The total destruction of the 
Investigator was daily threatened by the rushes of ice that 
assailed them in the narrow strait along which they were 
endeavouring to proceed. 

On the 17th of September, "There were several heavy floes 
in the vicinity ; one, full six miles in length, passed at the 
rate of two knots, crushing everything that impeded its prog- 
ress, and grazed our starboard bow. Fortunately, there 
was but young ice upon the opposite side, which yielded to 
the pressure ; had it otherwise occurred, the vessel must 
inevitably have been cut asunder. In the afternoon, we se- 
cured to a moderately sized piece, drawing eight fathoms, 
which appeared to offer a fair refuge, and from which we never 
afterwards parted." 

The smallest pools now became covered with ice; the last 
Arctic bird to take flight was the eider-duck, which turned 
south by the 23d. By the 27th of September the thermom- 
eter stood at zero, and every preparation was being made 
to house the ship for the winter. The ice was in constant 
and violent motion. "The crushing, creaking, and straining," 
writes Captain M'Clure, "is beyond description; the officer 
of the watch, when speaking to me, is obliged to put his mouth 
close to my ear, on account of the deafening noise." 



CAPTAIN M'CLURE 155 

Clinging with the " tenacity of a bosom-friend" to the ice- 
floe to which they were secured, "it conveyed us," continues 
M'Clure, "to our farthest northeast position, latitude 73° 
7' north, longitude 117° 10' west, back round the Princess 
Royal Islands, passed the largest within five hundred yards 
to latitude 72° 42' north, longitude 118° 42' west, returning 
along the coast of Prince Albert's Land, and finally freezing 
in at latitude 72° 50' north, longitude 117° 55' west, upon the 
30th of September, during which circumnavigation we 
received many severe nips, and were frequently driven close 
to the shore, from which our deep friend kept us off. To 
avoid separation, we had secured with two stream-cables, 
one chain, two six, and two five hawsers. As our exposed 
position rendered every precaution necessary, we got upon 
deck twelve months' provisions, with tents, warm clothing, 
etc., and issued to each person a pair of carpet-boots and a 
blanket-bag, so that in the event of any emergency rendering 
it imperative to quit the vessel, we might not be destitute. 
On the 8th of October, our perplexities terminated with a nip 
that lifted the vessel a foot, and heeled her 4° to port, in con- 
sequence of a large tongue getting beneath her, in which posi- 
tion we quietly remained." Here the Investigator passed the 
winter of 1850-1851, during which season a journey was made 
over the ice to the shores of Barrow Strait, which they found 
connected with the strait in which they wintered, thus estab- 
lishing the fact of a northwest passage. 

The journey undertaken on the morning of October 21, 
1850, came near proving fatal to Captain M'Clure. On the 
return trip a week later about 2 p.m. one afternoon, having 
seen the Princess Royal Isles and knowing the position of the 
ship, he decided to leave his sledge and push ahead, that a 
warm meal might be made ready for the rest of the party 
upon their arrival at the ship. Night overtook him when 
still at least six miles from the vessel, and a dense mist, ac- 
companied by heavy snow, obscured every object. 



156 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

"I now," writes M'Clure, " climbed on a mass of squeezed- 
up ice, in the hope of seeing my party, should they pass near, 
or of attracting the attention of some one on board the vessel 
by firing my fowling-piece. Unfortunately, I had no other 
ammunition than what it was loaded with ; for I had fancied, 
when I left the sledge, that two charges in the gun would be 
all I should be likely to require. After waiting for an hour 
patiently, I was rejoiced to see through the mist the glaring of 
a blue light, evidently burnt in the direction in which I had 
left the sledge. I immediately fired to denote my position ; 
but my fire was unobserved, and, both barrels being dis- 
charged, I was unable to repeat the signal. My only hope 
now rested upon the ship's answering, but nothing was to be 
seen ; and, although I once more saw, at a greater distance, 
the glare of another blue light from the sledge, there seemed 
no probability of my having any other shelter for the night 
than what the floe afforded. Two hours elapsed ; I endeav- 
ored to see the face of my pocket compass by the light of a 
solitary lucifer match, which happened to be in my pocket ; 
but in this hope I was cruelly disappointed, for it fizzed and 
went out, leaving me in total darkness. It was now half-past 
eight ; there were eleven hours of night before me, a tempera- 
ture of 15° below zero, bears prowling about, and I with an 
unloaded gun in my hands. The sledge-party might, how- 
ever, reach the ship, and, finding I had not arrived, search 
would be made, and help be sent ; so I walked to and fro upon 
my hummock until, I suppose, it must have been eleven 
o'clock, when that hope fled likewise. Descending from the 
top of the slab of ice upon which I had clambered, I found un- 
der its lee a famous bed of soft, dry snow ; and thoroughly 
tired out, I threw myself upon it and slept for perhaps three 
hours, when, upon opening my eyes, I fancied I saw the flash 
of a rocket. Jumping upon my feet, I found that the mist 
had cleared off, and that the stars and aurora borealis were 



DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 157 

shining in all the splendor of an Arctic night. Although unable 
to see the islands or the ship, I wandered about the ice in 
different directions until daylight, when, to my great morti- 
fication, I found I had passed the ship fully the distance of 
four miles." 

Sledge journeys along the shores of Baring Island and Prince 
Albert Land were undertaken, but no trace of Franklin or 
his party was discovered. Traces of Eskimos were found, 
but only one party met with ; however, deer, musk-oxen, and 
bears were encountered. A bear was killed, and, when opened, 
its stomach was found to contain raisins, tobacco, pork, and 
adhesive plaster ! This extraordinary medley led Captain 
M'Clure to the conclusion that the Enterprise was in the vicin- 
ity, and a diligent search was instituted, but the only result 
was the discovery of a preserved meat canister, which con- 
tained similar articles, probably the same from which the 
bear had obtained his unusual meal. By the 13th of June, 
1851, all the sledge parties having returned in safety to the 
ship, everything was made ready to set sail the moment the 
huge barriers of ice should permit. 

"The first indication of open water," writes Captain 
M'Clure, "occurred to-day (July 7th) extending some dis- 
tance along the shore of Prince Albert's Land, about a mile 
in width ; the ice in every direction is so rapidly decaying, 
being much accelerated by sleet and rain, with the thermom- 
eter standing at 45°, that, by the 14th, that which for the 
last few days had been slightly in motion, with large spaces 
of water intervening, suddenly and noiselessly opened around 
the vessel, leaving her in a pond of forty yards ; but seeing 
no possibility of getting without its limits, we were compelled 
to secure to the floe which had for ten months befriended us, 
and, with the whole of the pack, gradually drifted to the 
southward, toward the Princess Royal Islands, which we 
passed on the eastern side within half a mile. 



158 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

" Upon the 17th, at 10 a.m., being among loose ice, we cast 
off from the floe and made sail, with the hope of getting upon 
the western shore where the water appeared to be making, 
but without shipping the. rudder, in consequence of being 
in the vicinity of several large floes, and at 2 p.m. again 
secured to a floe between the Princess Royal and Baring 
islands (we passed over a shoal having nineteen fathoms). 
On the 20th, at half-past eleven a.m., a light air sprang up 
from the southwest, which, slacking the ice, gave hopes of 
making progress to the northeast, in which direction I was 
anxious to get for the purpose of entering Barrow Strait, 
that, according to circumstances, I might be enabled to 
carry out my original intentions of proceeding to the north- 
ward of Melville Island, as detailed in my letter to the sec- 
retary of the Admiralty, of -July 20, 1850; or, should such 
not be practicable, return to England through the strait. 
After most persevering efforts to penetrate into Barrow 
Strait, Captain M'Clure was obliged to abandon the attempt. 
On the 16th of August he determined to coast round the 
western shores of the island and make the passage, if possible, 
to the northward of Banks Land. 

"At 4 p.m. on the 18th," he writes, "being off a very low 
spit of sand (Point Kellet) which extended to the westward 
for about twelve miles, in the form of a horseshoe, hav- 
ing a seaside thickly studded with grounded ice, while the 
interior was exempt from any, I sent Mr. Court (second 
master) to examine it, who reported an excellent and commo- 
dious harbour, well sheltered from north-west to south, carry- 
ing five fathoms within ten yards of the beach, which was 
shingle, and covered with driftwood. A set of sights was 
obtained, and a cask, containing a notice, was left there. 
Upon the morning of the 19th, we left this low coast, and 
passed between two small islands lying at the entrance of 
what appeared a deep inlet, running east-south-east, and 



DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 159 

then turning sharp to north-east. It had a barrier of ice 
extending across, which prevented any communication. 
Wishing to keep between the northernmost of these islands and 
the mainland, to avoid the pack, which was very near it, we 
narrowly escaped getting on shore, as a reef extended from 
the latter to within half a mile of the island. Fortunately, 
the wind being light, we rounded to with all the studding- 
sails set, and let go the anchor in two and a half fathoms, 
having about four inches to spare under the keel, and warped 
into four, while Mr. Court was sent to find a channel in which 
he succeeded, carrying three fathoms, through which we ran 
for one mile, and then continued our course in eight, having 
from three to five miles between the ice and land. At 8 
p.m., we neared two other islands, the ice resting upon the 
westernmost, upon which the pressure must have been ex- 
cessive, as large masses were forced nearly over its summit, 
which was upwards of forty feet. Between these and the 
main we ran through a channel in from nine to fifteen fathoms, 
when an immediate and marked change took place in the 
general appearance and formation of the land : it became 
high, precipitous, sterile, and rugged ; intersected with deep 
ravines and water courses, having six-five fathoms at a quarter 
of a mile, and fifteen fathoms one hundred yards from the 
cliffs, which proved exceedingly fortunate as the whole pack, 
which had apparently only just broken from the shore, was 
within half a mile, and, in many places, so close to it, that to 
avoid getting beset, we had nearly to touch the land ; indeed, 
upon several occasions, the boats were compelled to be topped- 
up, and poles used to keep the vessel off the grounded ice ; 
which extends all along this coast ; nor could we round to, 
fearful of carrying the jib-boom away against the cliffs, 
which here run nearly east and west. The cape forming its 
western extreme I have called Prince Alfred, in honour of 
his Royal Highness. On the morning of the 20th, our fur- 



160 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

ther progress was impeded by finding the ice resting upon 
a point, which formed a slight indentation of shore, and was 
the only place where water could be seen. To prevent being 
carried away with the pack, which was rilling up its space, 
we secured to the inshore side of a small but heavy piece of 
ice, grounded in twelve fathoms seventy-four yards from 
the beach — the only protection against the tremendous 
Polar ice (setting a knot per hour to the eastward before a 
fresh westerly wind), which at 9 p.m. placed us in a very 
critical position, by a large floe striking the piece we were 
fast to, and causing it to oscillate so considerably, that a 
tongue which happened to be under our bottom, lifted the 
vessel six feet ; but, by great attention to the anchors and 
warps, we succeeded in holding on during the conflict, which 
was continued several minutes, terminating by the floe 
being rent in pieces, and our being driven nearer the beach. 
From this until the 29th, we lay perfectly secure, but at 
8 a.m. of that day, the ice began suddenly to move, when a 
large floe, that must have caught the piece to which we were 
attached under one of its overhanging ledges, raised it per- 
pendicular by thirty feet, presenting to all on board a most 
frightful aspect. As it ascended above the foreyardy much 
apprehension was felt, that it might be thrown completely 
over, when the ship must have been crushed beneath it. 
This suspense was but for a few minutes, as the floe rent, carry- 
ing away with it a large piece from the foundation of our 
asylum, when it gave several fearful rolls, and resumed its 
former position ; but, no longer capable of resisting the 
pressure, it was hurried onward with the drifting mass. Our 
proximity to the shore compelled, as our only hopes of safety, 
the absolute necessity of holding to it ; we consequently 
secured with a chain, stream and hemp cable, three, six, 
and two five-inch hawsers, three of which were passed round 
it. In this state we were forced along, sinking large pieces 



DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 161 

beneath the bottom, and sustaining a heavy strain against 
the stern and rudder; the latter was much damaged, but 
to unship it at present was impossible. At 1 p.m., the 
pressure eased, from the ice becoming stationary, when it 
was unhung and laid upon a large floe piece, where, by 8 p.m., 
owing to the activity of Mr. Ford, the carpenter, who is 
always ready to meet any emergency, it was repaired, just as 
the ice began again to be in motion ; but as the tackles 
were hooked, it was run up to the davits without further 
damage." Continuing his exciting narrative, Captain M'Clure 
writes : — 

"We were now setting fast upon another large piece of a 
broken floe, grounded in nine fathoms upon the debris 
formed at the mouth of a large river. Feeling confident 
that, should we be caught between this and what we were 
fast to, the ship must inevitably go to pieces, and yet being 
aware that to cast off would certainly send us on the beach 
(from which we were never distant eighty yards), upon which 
the smaller ice was hurled as it came in contact with these 
grounded masses, I sent John Kerr (gunner's mate) under 
very difficult circumstances, to endeavor to reach it and effect 
its destruction by blasting ; he could not, however, find a 
sufficient space of water to sink the charge, but remarking 
a large cavity upon the sea face of the floe, he fixed it there, 
which so far succeeded, that it slightly fractured it in three 
places, which, at the moment was scarcely observable, from 
the heavy pressure it was sustaining. By this time, the 
vessel was within a few feet of it, and every one was on deck 
in anxious suspense, awaiting what was apparently the crisis 
of our fate ; most fortunately, the stern post took it so fairly, 
that the pressure was fore and aft, bringing the whole strength 
of the ship to bear, a heavy grind, which shook every mast, 
and caused beams and decks to complain, as she trembled to 
the violence of the shock, plainly indicated that the struggle 



162 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

would be but of short duration. At this moment, the stream- 
cable was carried away, and several anchors drew ; thinking 
that we had now sufficiently risked the vessel, orders were 
given to let go the warps, and with that order I had made 
up my mind that in a few minutes she would be on the 
beach ; but, as it was sloping, conceived she might still 
prove an asylum for the winter, and possibly be again got 
afloat ; while, should she be crushed between these large 
grounded pieces, she must inevitably go down in ten fathoms, 
which would be certain destruction to all ; but before the 
orders could be obeyed, a merciful Providence interposed, 
causing the ice, which had previously weakened, to separate 
into three pieces, and it floated onward with the mass, our 
stern still tightly jammed against, but now protected by it. 
The vessel, which had been thrown over fifteen degrees, and 
risen bodily one foot eight inches, now righted and settled in 
the water ; the only damage sustained was several sheets of 
copper ripped off and rolled up like a sheet of paper, but not 
a fastening had given way, nor does any leakage indicate the 
slightest defect. By midnight, the ice was stationary, and 
everything quiet, which continued until the 10th of Septem- 
ber ; indeed, from the temperature having fallen to sixteen 
degrees, with all appearance of the setting in of the winter, 
I considered our farther progress stopped until next year." 

Until the end of September, their course was one un- 
varying scene of battling against difficulties similar to those 
just described. Having reached the western extremity of 
Banks Land, "I determined," writes Captain M'Clure, 
"to make this our winter quarters, and, having remarked 
upon the south side of the bank on which we had grounded, 
a well-protected bay, Mr. Court was despatched to sound 
it ; and, shortly making the signal there was sufficient water, 
we bore up, and at forty-five minutes past 7 a.m. we 
anchored in four and a half fathoms, and that night were 



DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 163 

firmly frozen in, in what has since proved a most safe and 
excellent harbor, which, in grateful remembrance of the 
many perils that we had escaped during the passage of that 
terrible Polar Sea, we have named the 'Bay of Mercy' ; thus 
finally terminating this short season's operations, having 
been actually only five entire days under way." From now 
on every preparation was made to spend the winter as com- 
fortably as conditions would admit." 

"As there appeared much game in the vicinity," writes 
Captain M'Clure, "and the weather continued mild, shoot- 
ing parties were established in different directions between 
the 9th and 23d of October ; so that, with what was killed 
from the ship, our supply of fresh provisions at the commence- 
ment of the winter consisted of nine deer, fifty-three hares, 
and forty-four ptarmigan, all in fine condition, the former 
having from two to three inches of fat." 

"In consequence of our favored position," he continues, 
"the crew were enabled to ramble over the hills almost daily 
in quest of game, and their exertions happily supplied a 
fresh meal of venison three times a fortnight, with the excep- 
tion of about three weeks in January, when it was too dark 
for shooting. The small game, such as ptarmigan and hares, 
being scarce, were allowed to be retained by the sportsmen 
as private property. This healthy and exhilarating exercise 
kept us all well and in excellent spirits during another te- 
dious winter, so that on the 1st of April we had upwards of 
a thousand pounds of venison hanging at the yard-arms." 

The exciting experience of Sergeant Woon, a marine, 
while out hunting, is interesting. While pursuing a wounded 
deer, he suddenly and unexpectedly met a couple of musk- 
bulls, which he succeeded in wounding. Infuriated with 
pain, one of the musk-oxen rushed towards him. Having 
expended his shot, the sergeant fired his "worm" at the 
animal, but, this having little or no effect, the bull, though 



164 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

weakened from the loss of blood, when within six feet, put 
his head to the ground as if for a final rush. With quick 
action the sergeant fired .his iron ramrod, which, entering 
behind the animal's left shoulder, passed through the heart 
and out at the right flank, dropping him lifeless. 

On another occasion, the presence of mind of Sergeant 
Woon saved the life of a companion, a coloured man and 
member of the crew. It was in January and bitterly cold; 
the coloured man had been out hunting and lost his way. 
He began to fancy himself frozen to death, and from sheer 
terror lost his wits. The sergeant met him, but could not 
induce the poor fellow to follow him. The coloured man 
stood dazed and shivering, and finally fell in a fit. Waiting 
until he was somewhat revived, the sergeant either carried 
or rolled him down hills or hummocks for ten long hours, 
until he got him within a mile of the ship. The sergeant 
was by this time thoroughly exhausted and tried to persuade 
the negro to walk, but the poor demented creature only 
begged to be "let alone to die." Being unable to persuade 
him, the only thing left was to place him in a bed of deep 
snow, and then, with all his remaining strength, the sergeant 
hastened to the ship for assistance. Returning as soon as 
possible to the spot where the poor negro had been left, they 
found him with his arms stiff and raised above his head, his 
eyes open, and his mouth so firmly frozen that it required 
considerable force to open it and pour down restoratives. 
He still lived, however, and eventually recovered, with no 
more serious results than frost-bites to his hands, feet, and 
face. 

The second Christmas was passed cheerfully and with a 
bounteous supply of good things. "As it was to be our last," 
writes Captain M'Clure, "the crew determined to make it 
memorable, and their exertions were completely successful ; 
each mess was gayly illuminated and decorated with original 



DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE 165 

paintings by our lower-deck artists, exhibiting the ship in 
her perilous positions during the transit of the polar sea, 
and divers othe* subjects ; but the grand features of the 
day were the enormous plum puddings (some weighing 
twenty-six pounds), haunches of venison, hares roasted, and 
soup made of the same, with ptarmigan and sea pies. Such 
dainties in such profusion I should imagine never before 
graced a ship's lower deck ; any stranger, to have witnessed 
the scene, could but faintly imagine that he saw a crew which 
had passed upwards of two years, in these dreary regions, 
and three entirely upon their own resources, enjoying such 
excellent health — so joyful, so happy ; indeed, such a 
mirthful assemblage, under any circumstances, would be 
most gratifying to any officer ; but in this lonely situation, 
I could not but feel deeply impressed as I contemplated the 
gay and plenteous sight, with the many and great mercies, 
which a kind and beneficent Providence had extended 
towards us, to whom alone is due the heart-felt praises as 
thanksgivings of all for the great blessings which we have 
hitherto experienced in positions the most desolate which 
can be conceived." 

In the autumn of 1852, Captain M'Clure had made known 
his intentions of sending to England, the following spring, 
half of the officers and crew via Baffin Bay (taking the boat 
from Cape Spencer) and the Mackenzie. The remainder of 
the crew were to stand by the ship in the hope of releasing 
her in the summer of 1853, should they fail in this they would 
proceed with sledges in 1854 by Port Leopold, "our provi- 
sions admitting of no other arrangement." In the de- 
spatch prepared by Captain M'Clure which he sent home by 
the land party in 1853, occurs the following passage : — 

"Should any of her Majesty's ships be sent for our relief, and 
we have quitted Port Leopold, a notice containing informa- 
tion of our route will be left on the door of the house at 



166 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Whaler's Point, or on some conspicuous position. If, how- 
ever, no intimation should be found of our having been there, 
it may at once be surmised that some fatal catastrophe has 
happened, either from our being carried into the Polar Sea, 
or smashed in Barrow's Strait, and no survivors left. If such 
be the case, — which, however, I will not anticipate, — it 
will then be quite unnecessary to penetrate further to the 
westward for our relief, as, by the period that any vessel 
could reach that port, we must, from want of provisions, all 
have perished. In such a case, I would submit that the 
officers may be directed to return, and by no means incur the 
danger of losing other lives in quest of those who will then 
be no more." 

The thrilling adventures in the American wilderness told 
by Franldin, Richardson, Back, and others, foretold that this 
sledge journey proposed by M'Clure would be long and 
hazardous in the extreme. The weaker ones were to under- 
take it, thirty of the healthiest men being retained to stand 
by the ships with the captain. 

The curse of scurvy had long since stricken many of the 
crew; these could not hope to brave another Arctic winter, 
and their only chance was to penetrate the wilderness to 
civilization, however difficult and dangerous the undertaking. 
But while M'Clure and his gallant comrades were making 
every preparation for this last attempt to communicate 
with England, relief came unexpectedly to hand. 

It will be remembered that Captain Kellett of Sir Edward 
Belcher's squadron had sailed the previous August to Mel- 
ville Island with relief supplies for the Investigator and En- 
terprise, in case these vessels or members of their crews should 
have succeeded in making their way from Behring Strait 
to that place. Upon reaching Winter Harbour, they at once 
discovered a notice deposited there the beginning of the 
year by Captain M'Clure, conveying the assurance of the 



CAPTAIN KELLETT 167 

safety of the Investigator and its crew in Mercy Bay. It may 
be imagined with what enthusiasm such news was received 
by Captain Kellett and his crew, and immediately prepara- 
tions were made for an expedition to let them know that aid 
was at hand. 

The unique meeting of Captain M'Clure from the west, 
and Lieutenant Pirn from the east, with a party from the 
Resolute, is graphically described in a private letter from 
Captain Kellett. 

"This is really a red-letter day in our voyage, and shall 
be kept as a holiday by our heirs and successors forever. 
At nine o'clock of this day, our lookout man made the signal 
for a party coming in from the westward ; all went out to 
meet them, and assist them in. A second party was then 
seen. Dr. Domville was the first person I met. I cannot 
describe my feelings when he told me that Captain M'Clure 
was among the next party. I was not long in reaching him, 
and giving him many hearty shakes — no purer were ever 
given by two men in this world. M'Clure looks well, but 
is very hungry. His description of Pirn's making the Har- 
bour of Mercy would have been a fine subject for the pen of 
Captain Marryat, were he alive. 

"M'Clure and his first lieutenant were walking on the 
floe. Seeing a person coming very fast towards them, they 
supposed he was chased by a bear, or had seen a bear. Walk- 
ing towards him, on getting onwards a hundred yards, they 
could see from his proportions that he was not one of them. 
Pim began to screech and throw up his hands (his face as black 
as my hat) ; this brought the captain and lieutenant to a 
stand, as they could not hear sufficiently to make out his 
language. 

"At length Pim reached the party, quite beside himself, 
and stammered out, on M'Clure asking him, — 

"'Who are you, and where are you come from?' 



168 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

"'Lieutenant Pirn, Herald, Captain Kellett.' 

"This was the more inexplicable to M'Clure, as I was the 
last person he shook hands with in Behring's Strait. He at 
length found that this solitary stranger was a true English- 
man — an angel of light. He says : 'He soon was seen from 
the ship ; they had only one hatchway open, and the crew 
were fairly jammed there, in their endeavor to get up. The 
sick jumped out of their hammocks, and the crew forgot 
their despondency ; in fact, all was changed on board the 
Investigator.' 

"M'Clure had thirty men and three officers fully pre- 
pared to leave for the depot at Point Spencer. What a dis- 
appointment it would have been to go there and find the 
miserable Mary yacht, with four or five casks of provi- 
sions, instead of a fine large depot ! 

"Another party of seven men were to have gone by the 
Mackenzie, with a request to the Admiralty to send out a ship 
to meet them at Point Leopold, in 1854. The thirty men 
are on their way over to me now. I shall, if possible, send 
them on to Beechey Island, and about ten men of my own 
crew, to be taken home the first opportunity." 

Captain Kellett was at first inclined to favour M'Clure's 
efforts to save the Investigator, but, on the 2d of May, Lieu- 
tenant Cresswell reported to Captain Kellett that two more 
deaths had occurred. It was then deemed advisable that 
Dr. Domville should go back with Captain M'Clure and 
inspect the crew. Those unfitted to pass another winter 
in the Arctic were to be ordered home, and the healthy should 
be given their option of going or remaining. Only four of 
the crew were willing to remain, although all of the officers 
volunteered to stand by the vessel. 

Preparations were therefore made to abandon the ship. A 
depot of provisions and stores was landed for the use of 
Collinson, Franklin, or any other person that might find them, 



DEATH OF BELLOT 169 

and on June 3, 1853, the colours were hoisted to the masthead, 
and officers and crew bade farewell to the Investigator. Upon 
arriving at Dealy Island, they were accommodated on board 
the Resolute and Intrepid. 

In connection with the glorious report of the discovery 
of the Northwest Passage and the safety of M'Clure, Captain 
Inglefield brought home news of a sad and tragic character ; 
the death of that gallant Frenchman, Lieutenant Bellot. He 
had returned to the north in the Phoenix drawn by the fatal 
lure of the Arctic which to his adventurous soul was irre- 
sistible. In August, 1853, he had volunteered to lead a party 
to Sir Edward Belcher's squadron near Cape Beecher in 
Wellington Channel. They started on a Friday, the 12th, 
from Beechey Island, — Harvey, Johnson, Madden, and Hook, 
with Lieutenant Bellot in the lead, — carrying despatches from 
Captain Pullen of the North Star. 

The rottenness of the ice at this season makes travel par- 
ticularly dangerous, and Bellot was cautioned to keep close to 
the eastern shore of Wellington Channel. They were pro- 
vided with a light India-rubber boat, which was easily 
dragged upon the sledge. The evening of the 12th, they 
encamped about three miles from Cape Innes. The follow- 
ing day they made considerable progress, and that night 
encamped upon the broken ice, over which they had'been plod- 
ding all day, near Cape Bowden. On Sunday they noticed 
a crack about four feet wide running across the channel. No 
special concern was felt at this discovery, and Lieutenant 
Bellot cheered and encouraged the men to make for a cape in 
the distance which he called Grinnell Cape. Upon reaching 
this cape, a broad belt of water was found between the ice and 
the shore. An unfortunate wind raised a rough sea, but 
Lieutenant Bellot made an attempt to reach the shore alone 
in the boat, intending to convey a line by which the re- 
mainder of the party and provisions might be brought across. 



170 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The violence of the gale drove him back, and Harvey and 
Madden were ordered into the boat, and successfully made 
the crossing. After this the boat was passed and repassed 
by means of lines, and three loads from the sledge were landed 
in safety. The party on shore were hauling off for a fourth 
when Madden, who had hold of the shore-line and stood up to 
his middle in water, called out that the ice was on the move, 
and driving offshore. 

Bellot saw that if Madden held on to the line much longer 
he would be dragged into deep water, so he called to him to let 
go, which he did. Lieutenant Bellot and his two men then 
hauled the boat on to the sledge and ran it up to the wind- 
ward side of the ice, intending to launch it at once and make 
for the shore. Before this could be accomplished, the ice 
had rapidly increased its motion and drifted so far from the 
shore as to make it impossible for them to reach it. Madden 
and Harvey, with indescribable feelings of alarm, hastened 
to an eminence, and for two long hours watched their com- 
rades drifting out to sea in the teeth of a bitter breeze — 
amid the turbulent icebergs. As the mists and driving snow 
finally closed upon their view, the two men were seen stand- 
ing by the sledge, Lieutenant Bellot on the top of a hummock. 

Madden and Harvey descended to the shore and at once 
. began their return journey to the ship. With very little pro- 
visions, they walked round Criffen Bay and hence to Cape 
Bowden, where they remained to rest. While there, great 
was their joy to recognize Johnson and Hook hastening 
toward them. The party now made for the ship, which 
they reached with considerable difficulty and privation. The 
fate of poor Lieutenant Bellot is described by William John- 
son, who was with him on the ice at the time of his death. 

"We got the provisions on shore on Wednesday, the 17th. 
After we had done that, there remained on the ice David 
Hook, Lieutenant Bellot, and myself, having with us the 



DEATH OF BELLOT 171 

sledge, mackintosh awning, and little boat. Commenced 
trying to draw the boat and sledge to the southward, but 
found the ice driving so fast, that we left the sledge and took 
the boat only ; but the wind was so strong at the time that it 
blew the boat over and over. We then took the boat with 
us, under shelter of a piece of ice, and Mr. Bellot and ourselves 
commenced cutting an ice-house with our knives for shelter. 
Mr. Bellot sat for half an hour in conversation with us, talk- 
ing on the danger of our position. I told him I was not 
afraid and that the American Expedition was driven up and 
down this channel by the ice. He replied, 'I know they 
were ; and when the Lord protects us, not a hair of our 
heads shall be touched.' I then asked Mr. Bellot what time 
it was. He said, 'About a quarter past 8 a.m.' (Thursday, 
the 18th), and then lashed his hooks, and said he would go 
and see how the ice was driving. He had only been gone 
about four minutes, when I went round the same hummock, 
under which we were sheltered to look for him, but could not 
see him ; and on returning to our shelter, saw his stick on the 
opposite side of a crack, about five fathoms wide, and the 
ice all breaking up. I then called out, 'Mr. Bellot,' but no 
answer (at this time blowing very heavy). After this I again 
searched round, but could see nothing of him. I believe 
when he got from the shelter, the wind blew him into the 
crack, and his south-wester being tied down, he could not 
rise. Finding there was no hope of again seeing Lieutenant 
Bellot, I said to Hook, 'I'm not afraid: I know the Lord 
will always sustain us.' We commenced travelling, to try 
to get to Cape de Haven, or Port Phillips ; and, when we 
got within two miles of Cape de Haven, could not get on 
shore, and returned for this side, endeavoring to get to the 
southward, as the ice was driving to the northward. We 
were that night and the following day in coming across, and 
came into the land on the eastern shore, a long way to the 



172 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

northward of the place where we were driven off. We got into 
the land at what Lieutenant Bellot told us was Point Ho- 
garth. 

"In drifting up the Straits towards the Polar Sea we 
saw an iceberg lying close to the shore, and found it on the 
ground. We succeeded in getting on it and remained for 
six hours. I said to David Hook, 'Don't be afraid, we must 
make a boat of a piece of ice.' Accordingly, we got on to a 
piece passing, and I had a paddle belonging to the India- 
rubber boat. By this piece of drift ice we managed to 
reach the shore, and then proceeded to where the accident 
happened. Reached it on Friday. Could not find our ship- 
mates, or any provisions. Went on for Cape Bowden, 
and reached it on Friday night." 

Poor Bellot — too brave — too young to die — beloved 
by comrades, mourned by the simple Eskimos he had 
befriended — cherished in tender memory by the nation that 
gave him birth and by Great Britain for whom he gave his 
life, — his honoured name is linked in immortality with those 
brave heroes of the Arctic, whose sepulchre is the frozen 
deep, whose monuments are the eternal snows of the Great 
White North. 




173 



CHAPTER X 

Sledging parties of Sir Edward Belcher's squadron. — Desertion 
of the ships. — Return to England. — Story of the Resolute. — 
Traces of Sir John Franklin discovered by Dr. Rae. — Anderson's 
journey. — The voyage of the Fox under Commander M'Clin- 
tock. — Sledge journeys. — Record and relics of Franklin's expedi- 
tion. — Fox returns to England. 

The sledge parties sent out by Sir Edward Belcher's 
squadron, though numerous and extended, had succeeded in 
finding no trace of Franklin or his crews ; thus the winter 
of 1853-1854 passed. The following April, Lieutenant Me- 
cham found in Prince of Wales Strait and, later on, Ramsay 
Island, records bearing the date of August 27, 1852, giving 
full intelligence of Captain Collinson, since his separation 
from the Investigator. All that Collinson knew of the posi- 
tion of M'Clure after parting with him in 1850 in the Pacific 
Ocean, was a report from the Plover that the Investigator 
had been seen, steering northward, off Wainwright Inlet. 

To verify certain rumours connected with this report, Cap- 
tain Collinson ordered a young officer, Lieutenant Barnard, 
and certain members of the crew to land at a Russian settle- 
ment in northwest America. The result was a sad tragedy; 
Barnard was brutally murdered by Indians in February, 
1851, at a post called Darabin, near Norton Sound. 

By the last of July, 1851, Collinson had rounded Point 
Barrow, and had steered up Prince of Wales Strait. On 
Princess Royal Island, he discovered a depot deposited by 
M'Clure and a cairn containing information of the Investigator's 
movements up until June 15, 1851. Collinson proceeded in 
exactly the course taken by the Investigator, and to his sur- 

174 



CAPTAIN COLLINSON 175 

prise found at Cape Kellett, on September 3, another record 
of M'Clure placed there on August 18. 

Collinson now found it necessary to seek winter quarters. 
These he secured toward the eastern side of the entrance to 
Prince of Wales Strait. 

As conditions would allow, he pursued his explorations in 
the vicinity of Banks Land, Albert Land, Wollaston Land, 
and Victoria Land, gaining much valuable geographical in- 
formation, but no trace of Franklin, except for the finding in 
the possession of the Eskimos a piece of an iron doorway or 
hatch frame which might have belonged to the Erebus or 
Terror. This was found at Cambridge Bay, in Wollaston 
Land, where Collinson wintered in 1852-1853. 

Collinson's sledge parties explored the west side of Vic- 
toria Strait, but, owing to lack of coal, Captain Collinson 
decided not to try to force a passage through the channel, 
but to return the way he had come. He did not get round 
Barrow Point, however, without passing a third winter in 
the northern coast of America. 

The best part of the summer of 1853 was passed by the 
Resolute and Intrepid with their crews and that of the Inves- 
tigator shut up in the ice at Dealy Island. Every preparation 
was made to advance at a moment's notice should the ice 
favour the opportunity, and at last, on the 18th of August, 
they got under way, a strong gale from offshore having dis- 
ruptured the ice. 

Hardly were officers and men congratulating them- 
selves that at last they were homeward bound, when they 
were arrested by the pack off Byam Martin Channel, where 
they lay, unable to make Bathurst Island and thence to 
Beechey Island. Winter was advancing; the situation was 
disheartening; day after day passed without the prospect of 
escape. The men occupied themselves with securing game, 
against the possible detention of the ships for another gloomy 



176 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

winter. Ten thousand pounds of meat, principally ' musk- 
ox, was obtained and frozen. By the 9th of September, 
newly formed ice surrounded them in such quantities that 
they were fairly beset and drifted at the mercy of the pack 
until the 12th of November, when, to the joy of all, the ships 
were at rest at a point due east of Winter Harbor, Melville 
Island, in longitude 101° W. Here the long winter months 
passed slowly by, with no greater casualty than the death of 
one officer, and the spring of 1854 found Captain Kellett 
planning to continue the search, while M'Clure and his crew 
departed April 14, with sledges, for Beechey Island. 

While engaged in preparations for his proposed sledge 
journeys, Captain Kellett received a communication from 
Sir Edward Belcher, admiral of the squadron, suggesting 
that rather than run the risk of passing another winter in the 
Arctic, he should abandon his ships and meet Sir Edward 
at Beechey on or before August 26. To this Captain Kellett 
remonstrated, stating that his ships were in a favourable 
situation for escape, that the health of the crew was excel- 
lent, and they had provisions in plenty, and that those con- 
cerned in deserting ships under such circumstances "would 
deserve to have the jackets taken off their backs." To this 
strong appeal came positive orders for the abandonment of 
the ships. 

Acting under these orders, Captain Kellett reluctantly 
prepared to desert the Resolute and Intrepid. Both ships 
were stored with provisions, the engines of the Intrepid put 
in such good order that she could be got under steam in two 
hours, the hatches calked down, and notices placed at proper 
points for the guidance of two sledging parties that were 
away from the ships at this time. On the 15th of May, 
1854, the captain and crew said farewell to their trusty crafts 
and started, with sledges, for Beechey Island, where M'Clure 
and his men were greatly surprised by their arrival. 



CAPTAIN BELCHER 177 

Since Sir Edward Belcher had parted with Captain Kellett 
August 14, 1852, parties from the Assistance and Pioneer 
had been diligently exploring Wellington Channel. Having 
anchored near Cape Beecher, in latitude 76° 52' and longi- 
tude 37° W., boat and sledge expeditions were sent north- 
ward as early as the 23d of August. On the 25th remains of 
several well-built Eskimo houses were discovered, of which, 
says Captain Belcher : — 

"They were not simply circles of small stones, but two 
lines of well-laid wall in excavated grounds, filled in between 
by about two feet of fine gravel, well paved, and, withal, 
presenting the appearance of great care — more, indeed, 
than I am willing to attribute to the rude inhabitants of mi- 
gratory Eskimos. Bones of deer, wolves, seals, etc., were 
numerous, and coal was found." 

New lands discovered were given the names of North 
Cornwall, Victoria Archipelago, and to an island of this 
group forming a channel to the Polar Sea was given the name 
of North Kent. 

Other sledging parties intended for the search of the north- 
east section left the ship May 2, 1853, and soon reached the 
limit of their discoveries the previous year. 

Belcher reached Cape Disraeli, an elevation of six hundred 
and eighty feet above the sea, and later made his way to the 
entrance of Jones Channel, where he had an extended view 
of successive beetling headlands on either side of the channel. 
The roughness of the frozen pack compelled the party to take 
to the land, but progress was again impeded by an abrupt 
glacier. Other attempts to continue the land journey proved 
futile, and by the 20th of May the party could advance no 
farther. 

Of the return journey Belcher writes : — 

"Our progress was tantalizing and attended with deep 
interest and excitement. In the first place, I discovered, on 



178 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

the brow of a mountain about eight hundred feet above the 
sea, what appeared to be a recent and a very workmanlike 
structure. This was a dome, — or rather, a double cone, 
or ice-house, — built of very heavy and tubular slabs, which 
no single person could carry. It consisted of about forty 
courses, eight feet in diameter, and eight feet in depth, when 
cleared, but only five in height from the base of the upper cone 
as we opened it. 

"Most carefully was every stone removed, every atom of 
moss or earth scrutinized ; the stones at the bottom also taken 
up ; but without finding a trace of any record, or of the struc- 
ture having been used by any human being. It was filled 
by drift snow, but did not in any respect bear the appearance 
of having been built more than a season. This was named 
' Mount Discovery.' " 

A little later he writes : — 

"Leaving our crew, pretty well fatigued, to pitch the tent 
and prepare the customary pemmican meal, I ascended the 
mountain above us, and discovered that we really were not 
far from our old position of last year, on Cape Hogarth, and 
had Cape Majendie and Hamilton Island to the west, about 
twenty miles. 

"My surprise, however, was checked suddenly by two 
structures rather in European form, and apparently graves ; 
each was similarly constructed ; and, like the dome, of large 
selected slabs, having at each end three separate stones, laid 
as we should place head and foot stones. So thoroughly 
satisfied was I that there was no delusion, I desisted from dis- 
turbing a stone until it should be formally done by the party 
assembled. 

"The evening following — for where the sun is so oppres- 
sive to the eyes by day we travel by night — we ascended the 
hill, and removed the stones. Not a trace of human beings ! " 

After a second winter (1853-1854) spent at the southern 



DESERTION OF THE SHIPS 179 

horn of Baring Bay, Sir Edward Belcher turned his entire 
exertions to getting his crews safely back to England. 
The Assistance and Pioneer were released from their winter 
quarters August 6, 1854, and proceeded slowly down the 
channel. The ice had broken up in Barrow Strait, and by 
August 22 the floe in Wellington Channel was open for 
fifteen miles north of the strait. There was only a belt some 
twenty miles in extent, and this much cracked, remaining 
between the ships and the water communicating with the 
Atlantic Ocean. In spite of these favourable conditions, Sir 
Edward Belcher and his crews deserted the Assistance and 
Pioneer on August 26, 1854, and made their way to the place 
of rendezvous at Beechey Island. 

The North Star accordingly set sail with all the officers and 
men of the Assistance, Pioneer, Resolute, Intrepid, and Inves- 
tigator, but meeting the Phoenix and Talbot, under Captain 
Inglefield (who had again returned to the search), a distri- 
bution of the crews was made among the three vessels, and 
on the 28th of September, 1854, all were safely landed in 
England. 

The report of five ships deserted in the Arctic regions, and 
no tidings of the Erebus and Terror, gave rise to the court- 
martial of Sir Edward Belcher and his officers, all of whom, 
with the exception of Sir Edward, were honourabty acquitted, 
as a matter of course, in consequence of their having acted 
under orders, and their swords were returned to them with 
very flattering expressions of approbation. Sir Edward 
Belcher was also acquitted, but was reproved for not having 
consulted sufficient!}' with his officers, and his sword was 
returned to him in significant silence. 

The British government now decided to abandon the search 
for Sir John Franklin, and his name was erased from the books 
of the Admiralty, — a sad token that all hope of his return was 
gone forever. 



180 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

A strange and romantic chapter in the history of Sir Edward 
Belcher's squadron was added in the month of September, 
1855. The whaler, George Henry, Captain Buddington, hail- 
ing from New London, Connecticut, was beset by ice in Baf- 
fin Bay. On looking through his glass one morning, Cap- 
tain Buddington saw a large ship fifteen or twenty miles away, 
working her way slowly toward him. For several days he 
watched her gradually approach, and On the seventh day, the 
mate, Mr. Quail, and three men were sent out to find out what 
she was. 

" After a hard day's journey over the ice, —jumping from 
piece to piece, and pushing themselves along on isolated 
cakes, they were near enough to see that she was lying on her 
larboard side, firmly imbedded in the ice. They shouted 
lustily as soon as they got within hailing distance ; but there 
was no answer. Not a soul was to be seen. For one mo- 
ment, as they came alongside, the men faltered, with a super- 
stitious feeling, and hesitated to go on board. A moment 
after, they had climbed over the broken ice, and stood on 
deck. Everything was stowed away in order — spars hauled 
up and lashed to one side, boats piled together, hatches 
calked down. Over the helm, in letters of brass, was in- 
scribed the motto, 'England expects every man to do his 
duty.' But there was no man to heed the warning." 

The whalemen broke open the companionway, and de- 
scended into the cabin. All was silence and darkness. Grop- 
ing their way to the table, they found matches and candles, 
and struck a light. There were decanters and glasses on the 
table, chairs and lounges standing around, books scattered 
about — everything just as it had been last used. Looking 
curiously from one thing to another, wondering what this 
deserted ship might be, at last they came upon the log-book. 
It was indorsed, " Bark Resolute, 1st September, 1853, to April, 
1854." One entry was as follows : "H. M. S. Resolute, 



DESERTION OF THE SHIPS 181 

17th January, 1854, nine a.m. Mustered by divisions. People 
taking exercise on deck. Five p.m. Mercury frozen." 

At last the Resolute had broken her icy bonds and was free. 
While the Yankee whalemen were examining her, a gale 
started up and night came on ; for two days these four men 
remained aboard her. By the 19th of September they had 
returned to their own ship and told their story. 

For ten days these two ships had gradually neared one 
another, and on the 19th Captain Buddington was able to 
board the Resolute himself and carefully note her condition. 
Her hold was pretty well filled with ice, and her tanks had 
burst from the extreme cold, filling her full of water almost to 
the lower deck. 

" Everything that could move from its place had moved. 
Everything between decks was wet ; everything that would 
mould was mouldy. 'A sort of perspiration' had settled on 
the beams and ceilings. The whalemen made a fire in Kel- 
lett's stove, and soon started a sort of shower from the vapor 
with which it filled the air. The Resolute had, however, 
four force pumps. For three days the Captain and six men 
worked fourteen hours a day on one of these, and had the 
pleasure of finding that they freed her of water, — that she 
was tight still. They cut away upon the masses of ice ; 
and on the 23d of September, in the evening, she freed herself 
from her encumbrances, and took an even keel. This was 
off the west shore of Baffin's Bay, in latitude 67°. On the 
shortest tack, she was twelve hundred miles from where 
Kellett left her. 

"There was work enough still to be done. The rudder was 
to be shipped, and rigging to be made taut, sail to be set." 

In another week she was ready to make sail — and though 
both the whaler and Resolute still drifted in the ice-pack, 
Captain Buddington resolved to bring her home; however, 
by October 21, after a gale, the Resolute was free. Ten men 



182 THE GREAT WRITE NORTE 

were selected from the George Henry, and with rough tracings 
of the American coast, his lever watch and quadrant for his 
instruments, Captain Buddington undertook a perilous and 
remarkable journey. The ship's ballast was gone, she was 
top-heavy and undermanned. Heavy gales and head winds 
drove them as far as the Bermudas. The water left in the 
ship's tanks was brackish — and the men suffered from thirst. 

"For sixty hours at a time," says Captain Buddington, 
"I frequently had no sleep." 

In the meantime, he had communicated with an English 
whaling bark, and by her sent to Captain Kellett his epaulets 
and word to his owners that he was coming. 

On Sunday morning, December 24, with the British ensign 
flying from her shorn masts, the Resolute anchored opposite 
New London. It will be remembered that Great Britain 
generously released all claims in favour of the sailors, and that 
Congress resolved to purchase the vessel and restore it as a 
gift to England. The Resolute was taken to a dry dock in 
Brooklyn, and there put in complete repair. Everything on 
board, even the smallest article, was placed in its original 
position, and at last when this work was completed, she was 
manned and officered by the United States Navy, and with 
sails all set and streamers all flying started for England. On 
December 12, 1856, after a tempestuous voyage, she anchored 
at Spithead, flying the British and United States ensigns. 
After an enthusiastic welcome, the Resolute, with an escort 
of two other steamers, was taken to Cowes, near Queen Vic- 
toria's private palace. December 16, the Queen, accompanied 
by Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and a distinguished 
suite, paid an official visit to the American officers on board 
ship. 

The next morning she was towed up to the harbour of Ports- 
mouth, escorted by the steam frigate Retribution, and, on 
arriving at her anchorage, was received with a royal salute. 



STOEY OF THE RESOLUTE 183 

and such an outburst of popular applause as was never known 
before. 

On the 30th of December, 1856, the American flag was 
hauled clown on board the Resolute, amid a salute from the 
Victory of twenty-one guns. The Union Jack was hoisted 
up, and the formal transfer of the Resolute to the British au- 
thorities was completed. The following day the American 
officers and crew left England for the United States. 

Though the fate of Sir John Franklin was still a mystery, 
news of a melancholy character had reached England through 
the Montreal Herald of October 21, 1854, in which a letter was 
published written by Dr. Rae of York Factory, August 4 
of the same year, and addressed to the governor of the Hud- 
son Bay Company. August 15, 1853, Rae had reached his 
old quarters at Repulse Bay, where he wintered ; the end of 
the following March he undertook his spring journey. At 
Pelly Bay he fell in with Eskimos from whom he secured 
several articles that he recognized as belonging to various 
members of Sir John Franklin's expedition. "On the morn- 
ing of the 20th" (April), he writes in his journal, "we were 
met by a very intelligent Eskimo driving a dog-sledge laden 
with musk-ox beef. This man at once consented to accom- 
pany us two days' journey, and in a few minutes had deposited 
his load on the snow, and was ready to join us. Having 
explained to him my object, he said that the road by which 
he had come was the best for us ; and, having lightened the 
men's sledges, we travelled with more facility. We were now 
joined by another of the natives, who had been absent seal- 
hunting yesterday ; but, being anxious to see us, had visited 
our snow-house early this morning, and then followed up our 
track. This man was very communicative and, on putting 
to him the usual questions as to his having seen 'white man' 
before, or any ships or boats, he replied in the negative ; but 
said that a party of 'Kabloomans' had died of starvation 



184 THE GBEAT WHITE NORTH 

a long distance to the west of where we then were, and beyond 
a large river. He stated that he did not know the exact place, 
that he never had been there, and that he could not accom- 
pany us so far. The substance of the information then and 
subsequently obtained from various sources was to the fol- 
lowing effect : — 

"In the spring, four winters past (1850), while some Eskimo 
families were killing seals near the north shore of a large island, 
named in Arrowsmith's charts King William's Land, about 
forty white men were seen travelling in company southward 
over the ice, and dragging a boat and sledges with them. 
They were passing along the west shore of the above-named 
island. None of the party could speak the Eskimo language 
so well as to be understood, but by signs the natives were led 
to believe that the ship or ships had been crushed by ice, 
and they were now going to where they expected to find deer 
to shoot. From the appearance of the men — all of whom, 
with the exception of an officer, were hauling on the drag- 
ropes of the sledge, and looked thin — they were then sup- 
posed to be getting short of provisions ; and they purchased 
a small seal, or piece of seal, from the natives. The officer 
was described as being a tall, stout, middle-aged man. When 
their day's journey terminated, they pitched tents to rest in. 
. "At a later date, the same season, but previous to the dis- 
ruption of the ice, the corpses of some thirty persons and some 
graves were discovered on the continent, and five dead bodies 
on an island near it, about a long day's journey to the north- 
west of the mouth of a large stream, which can be no other 
than Back's Great Fish River (named by the Eskimos Oot- 
doo-hi-ca-lik), as its description and that of the low shore in 
the neighborhood of Point Ogle and Montreal Island agree 
exactly with that of Sir George Back. Some of the bodies 
were in a tent, or tents ; others were under the boat, which 
had been turned over to form a shelter ; and some lay scat- 



TRACES OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 185 

tered about in different directions. Of those seen on the 
island, it was supposed that one was that of an officer (chief), 
as he had a telescope strapped over his shoulders, and a 
double-barrelled gun lay underneath him. 

"From the mutilated state of many of the bodies and the 
contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched coun- 
trymen had been driven to the dread alternative of cannibal- 
ism as a means of sustaining life. A few of the unfortunate 
men must have survived until the arrival of the wild-fowl (say 
until the end of May), as shots were heard, and fresh bones and 
feathers of geese were noticed near the scene of the sad event. 

"There appears to have been an abundant store of ammu- 
nition, as the gunpowder was emptied by the natives in a 
heap on the ground out of the kegs or cases containing it, 
and a quantity of shot and ball was found below high-water 
mark, having probably been left on the ice close to the beach 
before the spring commenced. There must have been a 
number of telescopes, guns (several of them double-barrelled), 
watches, compasses, etc., all of which seem to have been 
broken up, as I saw pieces of these different articles with the 
natives, and I purchased as many as possible, together with 
some silver spoons and forks, an Order of Merit in the form 
of a star, and a small silver plate engraved ' Sir John Franklin, 
K.C.B.'" 

Following closely upon the return of Dr. Rae to England, 
a land journey was undertaken by Mr. James Anderson of 
the Hudson Bay Company to follow up the trail. He 
descended the Great Fish River in June, 1855, and at the 
rapids below Lake Franklin, three Eskimo huts were -seen 
and various articles were found which the Eskimos claimed 
were obtained from a boat owned by white men who had died 
of starvation. These articles consisted of tent-poles, paddles, 
copper and sheet-iron boilers, tin soup tureens, and tools of 
various kinds. 



186 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Anderson pushed on to Point Beaufort, and finally reached 
Montreal Island. There other articles were found, such as 
chain, hooks, tools, rope, bunting; the name "Mr. Stanley" 
(surgeon of the Erebus) was rudely carved on a stick, and a 
piece of board had on it Terror. No signs of human remains 
were found, however. After a search at Point Ogle, where 
similar articles were found, Anderson's party returned home. 

Though the British government no longer desired to pursue 
the search, Lady Franklin, whose remarkable tenacity of 
purpose and loyal devotion had awakened so much admira- 
tion and respect, decided to expend the last remnant of her 
fortune to outfit the small screw steamer Fox under the able 
direction of the gallant M'Clintock, aided by Lieutenant 
Hobson, and send it to solve the mystery that still clung about 
the fate of her beloved husband. 

At first it seemed as if all the elements had conspired to 
make this expedition a failure, for in the summer of 1857 
the Fox found herself drifting at the mercy of the ice off 
Melville Bay, and after a dreary winter the pack had carried 
her nearly twelve hundred geographical miles in the Atlantic. 
Not until April 25, 1858, did the Fox get free, and then, securing 
such stores and provisions as could be procured at the small 
Danish settlement of Holstenburg, she sailed into Barrow 
Strait. 

Early the following spring parties under M'Clintock and 
Lieutenant Hobson undertook two sledge journeys. At 
Cape Victoria on the southwest coast of Boothia, they fell 
in with Eskimos, who informed them that some years back 
a large ship had been crushed in the ice out in the sea west of 
King William Land. 

On April 20, they again met these same Eskimos, who 
informed them with great reluctance that a second ship had 
been forced on shore, where they supposed she still remained, 
but much broken. They added that it was in the fall of the 



the fox's voyage under m'clintock 187 

year, that is, August or September, when the ships were de- 
stroyed ; that all the white people landed safely and went 
away to the Great Fish River, taking a boat or boats with 
them. The following year their bones were found upon the 
trail. M'Clintock and Hobson separated upon reaching Cape 
Victoria, and the former took up the search of the east coast 
in a southerly direction, while Hobson made a diligent exam- 
ination of the western coast. 

On May 7, 1859, M'Clintock writes : — 

"To avoid snow-blindness, we commenced night marching. 
Crossing over from Malty Island towards the King William 
Land shore, we continued our march southward until mid- 
night, when we had the good fortune to arrive at an inhabited 
snow-village. We found here ten or twelve huts and thirty 
or forty natives of King William Island ; I do not think 
any of them had ever seen white people alive before, but they 
evidently knew us to be friends. We halted at a little dis- 
tance, and pitched our tent, the better to secure small articles 
from being stolen whilst we bartered with them. 

"I purchased from them six pieces of silver plate, bearing 
the crests or initials of Franklin, Crozier, Fairholme, and 
McDonald ; they also sold us bows and arrows of English 
woods, uniform and other buttons, and offered us a heavy 
sledge made of two short stout pieces of curved wood, which 
no mere boat could have furnished them with, but this, of 
course, we could not take away ; the silver spoons and forks 
were readily sold for four needles each. 

" Having obtained all the relics they possessed," continues 
M'Clintock, "I purchased some seal's flesh, blubber, frozen 
venison, dried and frozen salmon, and sold some of my 
puppies. They told us it was five days' journey to the wreck, 
one day up the inlet still in sight, and four days overland ; 
this would carry them to the western coast of King William 
Land ; they added that but little now remained of the wreck 



188 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

which was accessible, their countrymen having carried almost 
everything away. In answer to an inquiry, they said she 
was without masts ; the question gave rise to some laughter 
amongst them, and they spoke to each other about fire, 
from which Peterson thought they had burnt the masts 
through close to the deck in order to get them down. 

"There had been many books, they said, but all have long 
ago been destroyed by the weather ; the ship was forced on 
shore in the fall of the year by the ice. She had not been 
visited during the past winter, and an old woman and a boy 
were shown to us who were the last to visit the wreck ; they 
said they had been at it during the winter of 1857-1858. 
Peterson questioned the woman closely, and she seemed 
anxious to give all the information in her power. She said 
many of the white men dropped by the way as they went to 
the Great River ; that some were buried and some were not ; 
they did not themselves witness this ; but discovered their 
bodies during the winter following. 

"We could not arrive at any approximation of the num- 
bers of the white men nor of the years elapsed since they were 
lost. This was all the information we could obtain." 

Visiting the shore along which the retreating crews must 
have marched, he came shortly after midnight May 24, when 
slowly walking along a gravel ridge near the beach which the 
winds kept partially bare of snow, upon a human skeleton, 
partly exposed, with here and there a few fragments of cloth- 
ing appearing through the snow. "The skeleton — now 
perfectly bleached — was lying upon its face, the limbs and 
smaller bones either dissevered or gnawed away by small 
animals. " 

"A most careful examination of the spot," writes M'Clin- 
tock, "was, of course, made, the snow removed, and every 
scrap of clothing gathered up. A pocket-book afforded 
strong grounds of hope that some information might be sub- 



THE FOX'S VOYAGE UNDER M'CLINTOCK 189 

sequently obtained respecting the unfortunate owner and the 
calamitous march of the lost crews, but at the time it was 
frozen hard. The substance of that which we gleaned upon 
the spot may thus be summed up : — 

"This victim was a young man slightly built, and perhaps 
above the common height ; the dress appeared to be that of 
a steward or officer's servant, the loose bow-knot in which 
his neck-handkerchief was tied not being used by seamen or 
officers. In every particular the dress confirmed our conjec- 
tures as to his rank or office in the late expedition, — the blue 
jacket with slashed sleeves and braided edging, and the pilot- 
cloth great-coat with plain covered buttons. We found, also, 
a clothes-brush near, and a horn pocket-comb. This poor 
man seems to have selected the bare ridge top, as affording 
the least tiresome walking, and to have fallen upon his face 
in the position in which we found him. It was a melancholy 
truth that the old woman spoke when she said 'they fell 
down and died as they walked along.'" 

At Cape Herschel a cairn was found all but demolished by 
the natives, and greatly to the disappointment of M'Clintock 
no record of any kind was discovered. 

"I noticed with great care," he writes, "the appearance 
of the stones, and came to the conclusion that the cairn itself 
was of old date, and had been erected many years ago, and 
that it was reduced to the state in which we found it by people 
having broken down one side of it ; the displaced stones, from 
being turned over, looking far more fresh than those in that 
portion of the cairn which had been left standing. It was with 
a feeling of deep regret and much disappointment that I left 
this spot without finding some certain record of those martyrs 
to their country's fame. Perhaps in all the wide world there 
will be few spots more hallowed in the recollection of English 
seamen than this cairn on Cape Herschel. 

"A few miles beyond Cape Herschel the land becomes very 



190 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

low ; many islets and shingle-ridges lie far off the coast ; and 
as we advanced we met with hummocks of unusually heavy 
ice, showing plainly that we were now travelling upon a far 
more exposed part of the coast-line. We were approaching 
a spot where a revelation of intense interest was awaiting 
me. 

"About twelve miles from Cape Herschel I found a small 
cairn built by Hobson's party, containing a note for me. 
He had reached this his extreme point, six days previously, 
without having seen anything of the wreck, or of natives, 
but he had found a record — the record so ardently sought for 
— of the Franklin expedition — at Point Victory, on the 
northwest coast of King William Land. That record is 
indeed a sad and touching relic of our lost friends, and, to 
simplify its contents, I will point out separately the double 
story it so briefly tells. 

"In the first place, the record paper was one of the printed 
forms usually supplied to discovery ships for the purpose of 
being enclosed in bottles and thrown overboard at sea, in 
order to ascertain the set of the currents, blanks being left 
for the date and position ; any person finding one of these 
records is requested to forward it to the Secretary of the 
Admiralty, with a note of time and place ; and this request 
is printed upon it in six different languages. Upon it was 
written, apparently by Lieutenant Gore, as follows : — 
«<oq f Tyr •[ H. M. ships Erebus and Terror 
1X47 ' i wm ^ ere d in the ice in lat. 70° 
l()5'N. ; long. 98° 23' W. 

"'Having wintered in 1846-7, at Beechey Island, in lat. 
74° 43' 28" N., long. 91° 39' 15" W., after having ascended 
Wellington Channel to lat. 77° and returned by the west side 
of Cornwallis Island. 

"'Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition. 

"'All well. 



THE FOX'S VOYAGE UNDER M^CLINTOCK 191 

" ' Party consisting of 2 officers and 6 men left the ships on 
Monday, 24th May, 1847. 

"'Gm. Gore, Lieut. 
"'Chas. F. Des Vceux, Mate.' 

" There is an error in the above document, namely, that the 
Erebus and Terror wintered at Beechey Island in 1846-7, — 
the correct dates should have been 1845-6 ; a glance at the 
date at the top and bottom of the record proves this, but in 
all other respects the tale is told in as few words as possible, 
of their wonderful success up to that date, May, 1847. 

" We find that after the last intelligence of Sir John Franklin 
was received by us (bearing date of July, 1845), from the 
whalers in Melville Bay, that his expedition passed on to 
Lancaster Sound, and entered Wellington Channel, of which 
the southern entrance had been discovered by Sir Edward 
Parry in 1819. The Erebus and Terror sailed up that strait 
for one hundred and fifty miles, and reached in the autumn 
of 1845 the same latitude as was attained eight years subse- 
quently by H. M. S. Assistance and Pioneer. Whether Frank- 
lin intended to pursue this northern course, and was only 
stopped by ice in that latitude of 77° north, or purposely 
relinquished a route which seemed to lead away from the 
known seas off the coast of America, must be a matter of 
opinion ; but this document assures us that Sir John Frank- 
lin's expedition, having accomplished this examination, 
returned southward from latitude 77° north, which is at the 
head of Wellington Channel, and re-entered Barrow's Strait 
by a new channel between Bathhurst and Cornwallis Islands. 

"Seldom has such success been accorded to an Arctic 
navigator in a single season, and when the Erebus and Terror 
were secured at Beechey Island for the coming winter of 
1845-6, the results of their first year's labor must have been 
most cheering. These results were the exploration of Wel- 
lington and Queen's Channel, and the addition to our charts 



192 



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found ; or, if more convenient, to deliver it for that purpose to the British^? J 
Consul at the nearest Port. i 

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Britannique a Londres. ' J # fj v " 

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Inhoudcnde de tyd en de plaats alwaar dit Papier is gevonden geworden. ^^ *>5 " 

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samme til Admiralitets Secretairen i London, eller ncermeste Embcdsmand 
iDanmarlc, Norge, eller Sverng. Tiden og Stoedit hvor dette er fundet 
onskes vcnskabeligt paategnet. 

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Sir John Franklin's Record. 



ItECOBD OF FEANKLIN'S EXPEDITION 193 

of the extensive lands on either hand. In 1846, they pro- 
ceeded to the southwest, and eventually reached within twelve 
miles of the north extreme of King William Land, when their 
progress was arrested by the approaching winter of 1846-7. 
That winter appears to have passed without any serious loss 
of life, and when in the spring, Lieutenant Gore leaves with a 
party for some especial purpose, and very probably to connect 
the unknown coast-line of King William Land between Point 
Victory and Cape Herschel, those on board the Erebus and 
Terror were 'all well,' and the gallant Franklin still com- 
manded. 

"But, alas ! round the margin of the paper upon which 
Lieutenant Gore in 1847 wrote those words of hope and prom- 
ise, another hand had subsequently written the following 
words : — 

"'April 25, 1848. — H. M. ships Terror and Erebus were 
deserted on the 22d April, 5 leagues N.N.W. of this, having 
been beset since 12th September, 1846. The officers and 
crews, consisting of 105 souls, under the command of Captain 
F. R. M. Crozier, landed here in lat. 69° 37' 42" N., long. 98° 
41' W. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th June, 1847 ; and 
the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date 
9 officers and 15 men. 

'"(Signed) 
'"F. R. M. Crozier James Fitzjames, 

'"Captain and Senior Officer, Captain H. M. S. Erebus, 
"'and start (on) tomorrow, 26th for 
Back's Fish River.' 

"This marginal information was evidently written by 
Captain Fitzjames, excepting only the note stating when 
and where they were going, which was added by Captain 
Crozier. 

"There is some additional marginal information rela- 
tive to the transfer of the document to its present position 



194 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

(viz. the site of Sir James Ross's pillar) from a spot four miles 
to the northward near Point Victory, where it had been orig- 
inally deposited by the late Commander Gore. This little 
word late shows that he, too, within the twelvemonth had 
passed away. 

"In the short space of twelve months, how mournful had 
become the history of Franklin's expedition ; how changed 
from the cheerful ' All well ' of Graham Gore ! The spring of 
1847 found them within 90 miles of the known sea off the 
coast of America ; and to men who had already in two seasons 
sailed over 500 miles of previously unexplored waters, how 
confident must they have felt that that forthcoming navigable 
season of 1847 would see their ships pass over so short an inter- 
vening space ! It was ruled otherwise. Within a month 
after Lieutenant Gore placed the record on Point Victory, 
the much-loved leader of the expedition, Sir John Franklin, 
was dead ; and the following spring found Captain Crozier, 
upon whom the command had devolved at King William 
Land, endeavoring to save his starving men, 105 souls in all, 
from a terrible death by retreating to Hudson Bay territories 
up the Back or Great Fish River. 

"A sadder tale was never told in fewer words. There is 
something deeply touching in their extreme simplicity, and 
they show in the strongest manner that both the leaders in 
this retreating party were actuated by the loftiest sense of 
duty and met with calmness and decision the fearful alter- 
native of a last bold struggle for life, rather than perish with- 
out effort on board their ships ; for we well know that the 
Erebus and Terror were only provisioned up to July, 1848." 

M'Clintock's party were now running short of provisions, 
but the finding of such important relics determined the leader 
to pursue the search to the uttermost limits of his powers. 

On May 30 he writes: "We encamped alongside a large 
boat — another melancholy relic which Hobson had found 



SLEDGE JOURNEYS 195 

and examined a few days before, as his note left here informed 
me ; but he had failed to discover record, journal, pocket- 
book, or memorandum of any description. A vast quantity 
of tattered clothing was lying in her, and this we first exam- 
ined. Not a single article bore the name of its former owner. 
The boat was cleared out and carefully swept that nothing 
might escape us. The snow was then removed from about 
her, but nothing whatever was found." 

After a detailed description of this boat, its weight, con- 
struction, and marks, etc., M'Clintock continues : — 

"But all these were after observations ; there was that in 
the boat which transfixed us with awe. It was portions of two 
human skeletons. One was that of a slight young person ; 
the other of a large, strongly made, middle-aged man. The 
former was found in the bow of the boat, but in too much dis- 
turbed a state to enable Hobson to judge whether the sufferer 
had died there ; large and powerful animals, probably wolves, 
had destroyed much of this skeleton, which may have been 
that of an officer. Near it we found the fragments of a pair 
of worked slippers, of which I give the pattern, as they may 
possibly be identified. The lines were white, with a black 
margin ; the spaces white, red, and yellow. They had orig- 
inally been 11 inches long, lined with calf-skin with the hair 
left on, and the edges bound with red silk ribbon. Besides 
these slippers there were a pair of small strong shooting 
half-boots. 

"The other skeleton was in somewhat more perfect state, 
and was enveloped with clothes and furs ; it lay across the 
boat, under the after-thwart. Close beside it were found 
five watches ; and there were two double-barrelled guns — ■ 
one barrel in each loaded and cocked — standing muzzle 
upwards against the boat's side. It may be imagined with 
what deep interest these sad relics were scrutinized, and how 
anxiously every fragment of clothing was turned over in 



196 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

search of pockets and pocket-books, journals, or even names. 
Five or six small books were found, all of them scriptural or 
devotional works, except the 'Vicar of Wakefield.' One 
little book, 'Christian Melodies/ bore an inscription upon 
the title page from the donor to G. G. (Graham Gore?). A 
small Bible contained numerous marginal notes, and whole 
passages underlined. Besides these books, the covers of a 
New Testament and Prayerbook were found. 

" Quantities of clothing and other articles were of one de- 
scription and another truly astonishing in variety and such 
as, for the most part, modern sledge-travellers in these re- 
gions would consider a mere accumulation of dead weight." 

The only provisions that were discovered were a little tea 
and nearly forty pounds of chocolate ; a small portion of 
tobacco was also found. 

The position of the abandoned boat was about fifty miles 
as a sledge would travel from Point Victory, and therefore 
sixty-five miles from the position of the ships, also seventy 
miles from the skeleton of the steward, and one hundred and 
fifty miles from Montreal Island. "A little reflection," 
writes M'Clintock, "led me to satisfy my own mind at 
least, that the boat was returning to the ships ; and in no 
other way can I account for two men having been left in her, 
than by supposing the party were unable to drag the boat 
further, and that these two men, not being able to keep pace 
with their shipmates,, were therefore left by them supplied 
with such provisions as could be spared to last until the 
return of the others from the ship with a fresh stock. 

" Whether it was the intention of the retroceding party 
to await the result of another season in the ships, or to follow 
the track of the main body to the Great Fish River, is now a 
matter of conjecture. It seems highly probable that they 
had purposed revisiting the boat, not only on account of the 
two men left in charge of it, but also to obtain the chocolate, 



SLEDGE JOURNEYS 197 

the five watches, and many other articles which would other- 
wise scarcely have been left in her. 

"The same reasons which may be assigned for the return 
of this detachment from the main body, will also serve to 
account for their not having come back to their boat. In 
both instances they appear to have greatly overrated their 
strength, and the distance they could travel in a given time. 

"Taking this view of the case, we can understand why 
their provisions would not last them for anything like the 
distance they required to travel, and why they would be 
obliged to send back to the ships for more, first taking from 
the detached party all provisions they could possibly spare. 
Whether all or any of the remainder of this detached party 
ever reached their ships is uncertain ; all we know is, that 
they did not revisit the boat, which accounts for the ab- 
sence of more skeletons in its neighborhood ; and the Esqui- 
mos report that there was no one alive in the ship when she 
drifted on shore, and that but one human body was found 
by them on board of her. 

"After leaving the boat we followed an irregular coast-line 
to the N. and N.W., up to a very prominent cape, which is 
probably the extreme of land seen from Point Victory by Sir 
James Ross, and named by him Point Franklin, which name, 
as a cape, it still retains." 

"I need hardly say," concludes M'Clintock, "that through- 
out the whole of my journey along the shores of King Wil- 
liam Land I caused a most vigilant lookout to be kept to 
seaward for any appearance of the stranded ship spoken of by 
the natives ; our search was, however, fruitless in that respect." 

Of Lieutenant Hobson's most careful and thorough search, 
M'Clintock writes: "He exercised his discretionary power 
with sound judgment, and completed his search so well, that 
in coming over the same ground after him, I could not dis- 
cover any trace that had escaped him." 



198 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

On the 19th of June, M'Clintock once more reached the 
Fox, where he found Hobson, who had preceded him by five 
days, sick and unable to walk, having been dragged upon 
the sledge for the best part of his return journey. 

A third sledging party under Captain Young, which had 
left the 7th of April, was still in the field, and M'Clintock 
began to feel so great anxiety for their safety that by the 
25th of June he set out with four men to search for them. 
"On the 27th," he writes, "I sent three of the men back to 
the ship, and with Thompson and the dogs went on to Pem- 
mican Rock, where, to our great joy, we happily met Young 
and his party, who had but just returned there, after a long 
and successful journey." 

It may be briefly stated that Young was in the field seventy- 
eight days under most trying circumstances. Crossing 
Franklin Strait to Prince of Wales Land, he traced its shores 
to its southern termination at Cape Swinburne. He failed in 
an attempt to cross M'Clintock Channel, owing to the rough 
ice, but he completed the explorations of this coast beyond 
Osborn's farthest to nearly 73° N., also exploring both shores 
of Franklin Strait between the Fox and Ross's farthest in 1849 
and Brown's in 1851. 

The return of the Fox to England was not accomplished 
without difficulty, owing to the death of the engineer, which 
obliged M'Clintock to stand by the engine no less than 
twenty-four consecutive hours, on one occasion. However, 
they reached Portsmouth, September 24, 1859. 

"The relics we have brought home," writes Captain 
M'Clintock, in conclusion, "have been deposited by the Ad- 
miralty in the United Service Institution, and now form a 
national memento — the most simple and most touching — 
of those heroic men who perished in the path of duty, but not 
until they had achieved the grand object of their voyage, — 
the Discovery of the North-West Passage." 



CHAPTER XI 

The second Grinnell expedition. Commanded by Dr. Elisha K. 
Kane. — Winter quarters in Rensselaer Harbour. — Sledging 
trips. — To the rescue. — Effects of exhaustion and cold. — Dr. 
Kane's journey. — Great Glacier of Humboldt. — Return and 
illness of Dr. Kane. — Second winter in the ice. — Privations and 
suffering. — Abandonment of the Advance. — Retreat and rescue. 

Mention has already been made of the second Grinnell 
expedition, commanded by Dr. Kane and financed by Mr. 
Grinnell and Mr. Peabody of London. Dr. Kane's instruc- 
tions from the Navy Department at Washington, dated 
November 27, 1852, read as follows : — 

"Sir: — Lady Franklin having urged you to undertake a 
search for her husband, Sir John Franklin, and his compan- 
ions, and a vessel, the Advance, having been placed at your 
disposition by Mr. Grinnell, you are hereby assigned to 
special duty for the purpose of conducting an overland jour- 
ney from the upper waters of Baffin's Bay to the shores of the 
Polar Seas. 

"Relying upon your zeal and discretion, the Department 
sends you forth upon an undertaking which will be attended 
with great peril and exposure. Trusting that you will be 
sustained by the laudable object in view, and washing you 
success and a safe return to your friends, I am, 

"Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"John P. Kennedy. 
"Passed Assistant Surgeon E. K. Kane, 
"United States Navy, Philadelphia." 

The small brig Advance, one hundred and forty-tons' bur- 

199 



200 THE GREAT WHITE NOETH 

den, with seventeen picked men besides the commander, 
sailed from New York on the 30th of May, 1853, "escorted 
by several noble steamers ; and, passing slowly on to the 
Narrows amid salutes and cheers of farewell." 

At the end of eighteen days the Advance had reached St. 
John's, Newfoundland, where Governor Hamilton, a brother 
to the secretary of the British Admiralty, and other officials, 
combined with the inhabitants to welcome the expedition. 
Upon sailing once more, Dr. Kane was presented with a 
noble team of Newfoundland dogs, the gift of the governor. 

The Advance reached Baffin Bay without incident, and a 
few days later found her off the coast of Greenland, making 
her way to Fisdernaes, which was reached the 1st of July, — 
"amid the clamor of its entire population, assembled on 
the rock to greet us." 

Here a native Eskimo, Hans Christiansen, was engaged as 
interpreter for the expedition. The Advance then proceeded 
across Melville Bay in the wake of vast icebergs, dodging to 
the rear of these huge floating masses, holding on to them 
when adverse winds became annoying, and pressing forward 
as opportunity offered. The promontory of Swartehuk was 
passed by the 16th. The following day the Advance an- 
chored at Proven, where Dr. Kane was warmly welcomed 
by his old friend Christiansen, the superintendent. Here 
he made necessary purchases of furs, and these were speedily 
made into suitable garments by the superintendent's wife and 
her assistants. While the brig sailed leisurely up the coast, 
Kane set out in the whale-boat to make purchases of dogs 
among the natives of the different settlements. After a two 
days' stay at Upernavik, the Advance proceeded on her 
course and passed in succession the Eskimo settlement of 
Kingatok, the Kettle, — a mountain top so named from the 
resemblance of its profile, and finally Zottik, the farthest 
point of colonization. 



THE SECOND GRIN NELL EXPEDITION 201 

Inclining more directly to the north, she sighted the land- 
mark known as the Horse's Head, and later Ducks Islands, 
and made for Wilcox Point, which was passed on the 27th 
of July. The 2d of August found them well in the ice and 
harassed by fogs, but the floes opened at intervals, allowing 
the ship to make her slow progress through them. The north 
water was comparatively free from obstructions, and by the 
5th they had passed the "Crimson Cliffs" described by Sir 
John Ross ; two days later they doubled Cape Alexander, 
and passed in to Smith Sound. At Littleton Island they 
stopped to deposit a boat and supply of stores. On August 8 
the ship closed with the ice and bored her way through the 
loose stream ice some forty miles beyond Life Boat Cove, when 
it became impossible to force her way any farther, and, says 
Kane : "A dense fog gathering round us, we were carried 
helplessly to the eastward. We should have been forced 
upon the Greenland coast, but an eddy close in shore re- 
leased us for a few moments from direct pressure, and we 
were fortunate enough to get out a whale-line to the rocks 
and warp into a protecting niche." 

The following day he writes: "It may be noted among 
our little miseries that we have more than fifty dogs on 
board, the majority of whom might rather be characterized 
as 'ravening wolves.' To feed this family upon whose 
strength our progress and success depend, is really a diffi- 
cult matter. The absence of shore or land ice to the south in 
Baffin Bay has prevented our rifles from contributing any 
material aid to our commissariat. Our two bears lasted the 
cormorants but eight days ; and to feed them upon the 
meagre allowance of two pounds of raw flesh every other day 
is an almost impossible necessity. Only yesterday they 
were ready to eat the caboose up, for I would not give them 
pemmican. Corn meal or beans, which Penney's dogs fed 
on, they disdain to touch ; and salt junk would kill them. 



202 THE GEE AT WHITE NOBTH 

" Accordingly, I started out this morning to hunt walrus, 
with which the Sound is teeming. We saw at least fifty of 
these dusky monsters, and approached many groups within 
twenty paces. But our rifle balls reverberated from their 
hides like cork pellets from a pop-gun target, and we could 
not get within harpoon distance of one. Later in the day, 
however, Ohlsen, climbing a neighboring hill to scan the 
horizon and see if the ice had slackened, found the dead 
carcass of a narwhale or sea-unicorn ; a happy discovery, 
which has secured for us at least six hundred pounds of good, 
fetid, wholesome flesh. The length of the narwhale was 
fourteen feet, and his process, or 'horn/ from the tip to its 
bony encasement, four feet. . . . We built a fire on the 
rocks, and melted down his blubber : he will yield readily 
two barrels of oil." 

The condition of the ice, furious gales, and the fast approach- 
ing winter all combined to dishearten the crew, who with 
one exception desired to return south and find winter quar- 
ters. Dr. Kane, however, determined to push northward, 
and finally located in Rensselaer Harbour 78° 37' N., 71° W. 
By the 10th of September, the long "night in which no man 
can work" was close at hand; the thermometer stood at 14°; 
every preparation was made for wintering; a storehouse was 
erected at Butler Island ; an astronomical observatory 
arranged at a short distance from the ship. 

"Besides preparing our winter quarters," writes Dr. 
Kane, "I am engaged in the preliminary arrangements for 
my provision depots along the Greenland coast. Mr. Ken- 
nedy is, I believe, the only one of my predecessors who has 
used October and November for Arctic field work ; but I 
deem it important to our movements during the winter and 
spring, that depots in advance should be made before the 
darkness sets in. I purpose arranging three of them at in- 
tervals, — pushing them as far forward as I can, — to con- 



BR. ELISHA K. KANE 203 

tain in all some twelve hundred pounds of provision, of which 
eight hundred will be pemmican." 

To this end one hundred and twenty-five miles of the 
Greenland coast was traced to the north and east; the largest 
of the three depots was located on an island in latitude 
70° 12' 6", and longitude 65° 25'. 

By the 20th of November, the darkness made field work 
impossible, and for one hundred and twenty days the little 
band of Arctic explorers endured the weariness and bitter 
cold of the long night. 

"On the 17th of January," writes Dr. Kane, "our ther- 
mometers stood at forty-nine degrees below zero ; and on 
the 20th the range of those at the observatory was at —64° 
to —67°. The temperature on the floes was always some- 
what higher than at the island ; the difference being due, 
as I suppose, to the heat conducted from the sea-water, 
which was at a temperature of + 29° ; the suspended instru- 
ments being affected by radiation. 

"On the 5th of February, our thermometers began to show 
unexampled temperature. They ranged from 60° to 75° 
below zero, and one very reliable instrument stood upon 
the taffrail of our brig at —65°. The reduced mean of our 
best spirit-standards gave —67°, or 99° below the freezing- 
point of water. 

"At these temperatures chloric ether became solid, and 
carefully prepared chloroform exhibited a granular pellicle on 
its surface. Spirit of naphtha froze at —54°, and oil of winter- 
green was in a flocculent state at —56°, and solid at —63° 
and —65°. 

"The exhalations from the surface of the body invested 
the exposed or partially clad parts with a wreath of vapor. 
The air had a perceptible pungency upon inspiration, but I 
could not perceive the painful sensation which has been 
spoken of by some Siberian travellers. When breathed for 



204 THE QBE AT WHITE NORTH 

any length of time, it imparted a sensation of dryness to the 
air-passages. I noticed that, as it were involuntarily, we all 
breathed guardedly, with compressed lips." 

The depressing influence of such low temperatures affected 
both man and beast. The poor dogs suffered keenly, and 
many of them died of affections of the brain, which began 
with the same symptoms of fits, lunacy, and lockjaw. The 
loss of fifty-seven of these brave animals seriously affected 
Dr. Kane's plans. The crew were greatly depleted by 
scurvy and almost unfit for the arduous work planned for 
the early spring. 

"An Arctic night and an Arctic day," remarks Dr. Kane, 
"age a man more rapidly and harshly than a year anywhere 
else in the world." 

Early in March a sledging party was organized to ascer- 
tain whether it were practicable to force a way over the 
crowded bergs and mountainous ice to the north. An ad- 
vance corps was sent out to place a depot of provisions at a 
suitable distance from the brig. 

March 20, Dr. Kane writes as follows : — 

"I saw the depot party off yesterday. They gave the 
usual three cheers, with three for myself. I gave them the 
whole of my brother's great wedding-cake and my last two 
bottles of Port, and they pulled the sledge they were har- 
nessed to famously. But I was not satisfied. I could see it 
was hard work ; and, besides, they were without the boat, 
or enough extra pemmican to make their deposit of im- 
portance. I followed them, therefore, and found that they 
encamped at 8 p.m. only five miles from the brig. 

"When I overtook them, I said nothing to discourage 
them, and gave no new orders for the morning ; but after 
laughing at good Ohlsen's rueful face, and listening to all 
Petersen's assurances that the cold and nothing but the cold 
retarded his Greenland sledge, and that no sledge of any 



WINTER QUARTERS IN RENSSELAER HARBOUR 205 

other construction could have been moved at all through 
— 40° snow, I quietly bade them good-night, leaving all hands 
under their buffaloes. 

"Once returned to the brig, all my tired remainder men 
were summoned ; a large sledge with board runners which I 
had built somewhat after the neat Admiralty model sent 
me by Sir Francis Beaufort, was taken down, scraped, 
polished, lashed, and fitted with track ropes and rue-raddies ; 
the lines arranged to draw as near as possible in a line with 
the centre of gravity. 

"We made an entire cover of canvas, with snugly ad- 
justed fastenings ; and by one in the morning we had our 
discarded excess of pemmican and the boat once more in 
stowage. Off we went for the camp of the sleepers. It was 
very cold, but a thoroughly Arctic night ; the snow just 
tinged with the crimson stratus above the sun, which, equi- 
noctial as it was, glared beneath the northern horizon like a 
smelting-furnace. We found the tent of the party by the 
bearings of the stranded bergs. Quietly and stealthily we 
hauled away their Eskimo sledge, and placed her cargo 
upon the Faith. 

"Five men were then rue-raddied to the track-lines, and 
with the whispered word, 'Now, boys, when Mr. Brooks 
gives his third snore, off with you ! ' off they went, and the 
Faith after them, as free and nimble as a volunteer. The 
trial was a triumph. We awakened the sleepers with three 
cheers ; and, giving them a second good-by, returned to the 
brig, carrying the dishonored vehicle along with us. And 
now, bating mishaps past anticipation, I shall have a depot 
for my long trip. 

"The party were seen by McGary from aloft, at noon to- 
day, moving easily, and about twelve miles from the brig." 

Eleven days later, March 31, Dr. Kane writes : — 

"We were at work cheerfully, sewing away at the skins of 



206 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

some moccasins by the blaze of our lamps, when, toward mid- 
night, we heard the noise of steps above, and the next minute 
Sonntag, Ohlsen, and Petersen came down into the cabin. 
Their manner startled me even more than their unexpected 
appearance on board. They were swollen and haggard, 
and hardly able to speak. 

"Their story was a fearful one. They had left their com- 
panions in the ice, risking their own lives to bring us the 
news : Brooke, Baker, Wilson, and Pierre were all lying 
frozen and disabled. Where ? They could not tell : some- 
where in among the hummocks to the north and east ; it 
was drifting heavily round them when they parted. Irish 
Tom had stayed by to feed and care for the others ; but the 
chances were sorely against them. It was in vain to ques- 
tion them further. They had evidently travelled a great 
distance, for they were sinking with fatigue and hunger, 
and could hardly be rallied enough to tell us the direction 
in which they had come." 

"My first impulse," continues Dr. Kane, "was to move on 
the instant with an unencumbered party ; a rescue to be 
effective or even hopeful, could not be too prompt. What 
pressed on my mind most was, where the sufferers were to 
be looked for among the drifts. Ohlsen seemed to have his 
faculties rather more at command than his associates, and 
I thought that he might assist us as a guide ; but he was 
sinking with exhaustion, and if he went we must carry 
him. 

"There was not a moment to be lost. While some were 
still busy with the newcomers and getting ready a hasty 
meal, others were rigging out the Little Willie with a buffalo 
cover, a small tent, and a package of pemmican ; and, as soon 
as we could hurry through our arrangements, Ohlsen was 
strapped on in a fur bag, his legs wrapped in dog-skins and 
eider-down, and we were off upon the ice. Our party con- 



SLEDGING TRIPS 207 

sisted of nine men and myself. We carried only the clothes 
on our backs. The thermometer stood at —46°, 78° below 
the freezing-point. 

"A well-known peculiar tower of ice, called by the men the 
'Pinnacly Berg/ served as our first land-mark; other ice- 
bergs of colossal size, which stretched in long beaded lines 
across the bay, helped to guide us afterward ; and it was 
not until we had travelled for sixteen hours that we began to 
lose our way. 

"We knew that our lost companions must be somewhere 
in the area before us, within a radius of forty miles. Mr. 
Ohlsen, who had been for fifty hours without rest, fell asleep 
as soon as we began to move, and awoke now with unequiv- 
ocal signs of mental disturbance. It became evident that 
he had lost the bearing of the icebergs, which in form and 
color endlessly repeated themselves ; and the uniformity 
of the vast field of snow utterly forbade the hope of local land- 
marks. 

" Pushing ahead of the party, and clambering over some 
rugged ice piles, I came to a long level floe, which I thought 
might probably have attracted the eyes of weary men in 
circumstances like our own. It was a light conjecture ; but 
it was enough to turn the scale, for there was no other to 
balance it. I gave orders to abandon the sledge, and dis- 
perse in search of footmarks. 

"We raised our tent, placed our pemmican in cache, ex- 
cept a small allowance for each man to carry on his person ; 
and poor Ohlsen, now just able to keep his legs, was liberated 
from his bag. The thermometer had fallen by this time to 
— 49° 3', and the wind was setting in sharply from the north- 
west. 

"It was out of the question to halt ; it required brisk exer- 
cise to keep us from freezing. I could not even melt ice for 
water ; and, at these temperatures, any resort to snow for 



208 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

the purpose of allaying thirst was followed by bloody lips 
and tongue ; it burnt like caustic. 

"It was indispensable then that we should move on, looking 
out for traces as we went. Yet when the men were ordered to 
spread themselves, so as to multiply the chances, though they 
all obeyed heartily, some painful impress of solitary danger, 
or perhaps it may have been the varying configuration of the 
ice-field, kept them closing up continually into a single group. 
The strange manner in which some of us were affected I now 
attribute as much 'to shattered nerves as to the direct influ- 
ence of the cold. Men like McGary and Bonsall, who had 
stood out our severest marches, were seized with trembling- 
fits and short breath ; and, in spite of all my efforts to keep 
up an example of sound bearing, I fainted twice on the snow. 

"We had been nearly eighteen hours out without water 
or food, when a new hope cheered us. I think it was Hans, 
our Eskimo hunter, who thought he saw a broad sledge 
track. The drift had nearly effaced it, and we were some 
of us doubtful at first whether it was not one of those acci- 
dental rifts which the gales make in the surface-snow. But, 
as we traced it on to the deep snow among the hummocks, we 
were led to footsteps; and, following these with religious 
care, we at last came in sight of a small American flag flut- 
tering from a hummock, and lower down a little Masonic 
banner hanging from a tent-pole hardly above the drift. 
It was the camp of our disabled comrades ; we reached it 
after an unbroken march of twenty-one hours. 

"The little tent was nearly covered. I was not among the 
first to come up ; but, when I reached the tent-curtain, the 
men were standing in silent file on each side of it. With 
more kindness and delicacy of feeling than is often supposed 
to belong to sailors, but which is almost characteristic, they 
intimated their wish that I should go in alone. As I crawled 
in, and, coming upon the darkness, heard, before me the 



TO THE RESCUE 209 

burst of welcome gladness that came from the four poor 
fellows stretched on their backs, and then for the first time 
the cheer outside, my weakness and my gratitude together 
almost overcame me. 'They had expected me : they were 
sure I would come ! ' 

"We were now fifteen souls ; the thermometer seventy-five 
degrees below the freezing-point ; and our sole accommoda- 
tion a tent barely able to contain eight persons ; more than 
half our party were obliged to keep from freezing by walk- 
ing outside while the others slept. We could not halt long. 
Each of us took a turn of two hours' sleep ; and we prepared 
for our homeward march." 

Continuing his spirited narrative, Dr. Kane describes 
the retreat : — 

"It was fortunate indeed that we were not inexperienced in 
sledging over the ice. A great part of our track lay among 
a succession of hummocks ; some of them extending in long 
lines, fifteen and twenty feet high, and so uniformly steep that 
we had to turn them by a considerable deviation from our 
direct course ; others that we forced our way through far 
above our heads in height, lying in parallel ridges, with the 
space between too narrow for the sledge to be lowered into 
it safely, and yet not wide enough for the runners to cross 
without the aid of ropes to stay them. These spaces, too, 
were generally chocked with light snow, hiding the openings 
between the ice-fragments. They were fearful traps to dis- 
engage a limb from, for every man knew that a fracture or 
a sprain even would cost him his life. Besides all this, the 
sledge was top heavy with its load ; the maimed men could 
not bear to be lashed down tight enough to secure them 
against falling off. 

"Notwithstanding our caution in rejecting every super- 
fluous burden, the weight, including bags and tent, was eleven 
hundred pounds. 



210 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

"And yet our march for the first six hours was very cheer- 
ing. We made by vigorous pulls and lifts nearly a mile 
an hour, and reached the new floes before we were absolutely 
weary. Our sledge sustained the trial admirably. Ohlsen, 
restored by hope, walked steadily at the leading belt of the 
sledge lines ; and I began to feel certain of reaching our half- 
way station of the day before, where we had left our tent. But 
we were still nine miles from it, when, almost without premo- 
nition, we all became aware of an alarming failure of our ener- 
gies. 

"I was, of course, familiar with the benumbed and almost 
lethargic sensation of extreme cold ; and once, when ex- 
posed for some hours in the midwinter of Baffin's Bay, I had 
experienced symptoms which I compared to the diffused 
paralysis of the electro-galvanic shock. But I had treated 
the sleepy comfort of freezing as something like the embel- 
lishment of romance. I had evidence now to the contrary. 

"Bonsall and Morton, two of our stoutest men, came to 
me, begging permission to sleep : 'They were not cold ; 
the wind did not enter them now ; a little sleep was all they 
wanted.' Presently Hans was found nearly stiff under a 
drift ; and Thomas, bolt upright, had his eyes closed, and 
could hardly articulate. At last, John Blake threw himself 
on the snow, and refused to rise. They did not complain of 
feeling cold ; but it was in vain that I wrestled, boxed, 
ran, argued, jeered, or reprimanded; an immediate halt 
could not be avoided. 

"We pitched our tent with much difficulty. Our hands 
were too powerless to strike a fire ; we were obliged to do 
without water or food. Even the spirits (whiskey) had 
frozen at the men's feet, under all the coverings. We put 
Bonsall, Ohlsen, Thomas, and Hans, with the other sick men, 
well inside the tent, and crowded in as many others as we 
could. Then, leaving the party in charge of Mr. McGary, 



EFFECTS OF EXHAUSTION AND COLD 211 

with orders to come on after four hours' rest, I pushed ahead 
with William Godfrey, who volunteered to be my compan- 
ion. My aim was to reach the halfway tent, and thaw some 
ice and pemmican before the others arrived. The floe was 
of level ice, and the walking excellent. I cannot tell how 
long it took us to make the nine miles ; for we were in a 
strange sort of stupor, and had little apprehension of time. 
It was probably about four hours. We kept ourselves 
awake by imposing on each other a continual articulation of 
words ; they must have been incoherent enough. I recall 
these hours as among the most wretched I have ever gone 
through ; we were neither of us in our right senses, and re- 
tained a very confused recollection of what preceded our 
arrival at the tent. We both of us, however, remember a 
bear, who walked leisurely before us and tore up as he went 
a jumper that Mr. McGary had impro violently thrown off the 
day before. He tore it into shreds and rolled it into a ball, 
but never offered to interfere with our progress. I remember 
this, and with it a confused sentiment that our tent and 
buffalo robes might probably share the same fate. God- 
frey, with whom the memory of this day's work may atone 
for many faults of a later time, had a better eye than myself ; 
and, looking some miles ahead, he could see that our tent 
was undergoing the same unceremonious treatment. I 
thought I saw it, too, but we were so drunken with cold 
that we strode on steadily, and, for aught I know, without 
quickening our pace. Probably our approach saved the 
contents of the tent ; for when we reached it the tent was 
uninjured, though the bear had overturned it, tossing the 
buffalo robes and pemmican into the snow ; we missed only 
a couple of blanket-bags. What we recollect, however, and 
perhaps all we recollect, is, that we had great difficulty 
in raising it. We crawled into our reindeer sleeping-bags, 
without speaking, and for the next three hours slept on in a 



212 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

dreamy and intense slumber. When I awoke, my long 
beard was a mass of ice frozen fast to the buffalo-skin ; 
Godfrey had to cut me out with his jackknife. Four days 
after our escape, I found my woollen comfortable with a 
goodly share of my beard still adhering to it. 

"We were able to melt water and get some soup cooked 
before the rest of our party arrived : it took them but five 
hours to walk the nine miles. They were doing well, and, 
considering the circumstances, in wonderful spirits. The 
day was most providentially windless, with a clear sun. All 
enjoyed the refreshment we had got ready. The crippled 
were repacked in their robes ; and we sped briskly toward the 
hummock-ridges which lay between us and the Pinnacly 
Berg. 

"The hummocks we had now to meet came properly under 
the designation of squeezed ice. A great chain of bergs 
stretching from northwest to southeast, moving with the 
tides, had compressed the surface-floes ; and, rearing them 
up on their edges, produced an area more like the volcanic 
pedregal of the basin of Mexico than anything else I can 
compare it to. 

"It required desperate efforts to work our way over it, — 
literally desperate, for our strength failed us anew, and we 
began to lose our self-control. We could not abstain any 
longer from eating snow ; our mouths swelled, and some of 
us became speechless. Happily the day was warmed by a 
clear sunshine, and the thermometer rose to —4° in the 
shade : otherwise we must have frozen. 

"Our halts multiplied, and we fell half-sleeping on the 
snow. I could not prevent it. Strange to say, it refreshed 
us. I ventured upon the experiment myself, making Riley 
wake me at the end of three minutes ; and I felt so much 
benefited by it that I timed the men in the same way. They 
sat on the runners of the sledge, fell asleep instantly, and 



EFFECTS OF EXHAUSTION AND COLD 213 

were forced to wakefulness when their three minutes were 
out. By eight in the evening we emerged from the floes. 
The sight of the Pinnacly Berg revived us. Brandy, an in- 
valuable resource in emergency, had already been served 
out in tablespoonful doses. We now took a longer rest, and 
a last but stouter dram, and reached the brig at 1 p.m., we 
believe without a halt. I say we believe: and here perhaps 
is the most decided proof of our sufferings : we were quite 
delirious, and had ceased to entertain a sane apprehension of 
the circumstances about us. We moved on like men in a 
dream. Our footmarks seen afterwards showed that we 
had steered a bee-line for the brig. It must have been by 
a sort of instinct, for it left no impress on the memory. Bon- 
sall was sent staggering ahead, and reached the brig, God 
knows how, for he had fallen repeatedly at the track-lines ; 
but he delivered with punctilious accuracy the messages I 
had sent by him to Dr. Hayes. I thought myself the sound- 
est of all, for I went through all the formula of sanity, and can 
recall the muttering delirium of my comrades when we got 
back into the cabin of our brig. Yet I have been told since 
of some speeches and some orders, too, of mine, which I should 
have remembered for their absurdity if my mind had retained 
its balance. 

" Petersen and Whipple came out to meet us about two 
miles from the brig. They brought my dog-team, with the 
restoratives I had sent for by Bonsall. I do not remember 
their coming. Dr. Hayes entered with judicious energy upon 
the treatment our condition called for, administering mor- 
phine freely, after the usual frictions. He reported none of 
our brain-symptoms as serious, referring them properly to the 
class of those indications of exhausted power which yield to 
generous diet and rest. Mr. Ohlsen suffered some time from 
strabismus and blindness : two others underwent amputa- 
tion of parts of the foot, without unpleasant consequences ; 



214 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

and two died in spite of all our efforts. This rescue party 
had been out for seventy-two hours. We had halted in all 
eight hours, half of our number sleeping at a time. We trav- 
elled between eighty and ninety miles, most of the way drag- 
ging a heavy sledge. The mean temperature of the whole 
time, including the warmest hours of three days, was at 
— 41° 2'. We had no water except at our two halts, and were 
at no time able to intermit vigorous exercise without freezing." 

Dr. Kane writes, April 4, Tuesday : — 

"Four days have passed, and I am again at my record of 
failures, sound, but aching still in every joint. The rescued 
men are not out of danger, but their gratitude is very touching. 
Pray God that they may live !" 

Shortly after these events, the ship was visited by Eskimos, 
a good-natured, childlike company, who disdained such 
dainties offered by the crew as wheat bread, corned pork, 
and lumps of white sugar, but gorged themselves on beef and 
blubber, and took opportunity to steal whatever they could 
lay their hands on. Dr. Kane purchased all the walrus meat 
they had to spare and some of their dogs, enriching them in 
return with needles and beads, and a treasure of old cask 
staves. Following his experience with the Eskimos, Dr. Kane 
gives an amusing anecdote of a seal hunt. 

"On one occasion," he writes, "while working my way 
toward the Eskimo huts, I saw a large Usuk basking asleep 
upon the ice. Taking off my shoes, I commenced a somewhat 
refrigerating process of stalking, lying upon my belly and 
crawling along, step by step, behind the little knobs of floe. 
At last, when I was within long rifle-shot, the animal gave 
a sluggish roll to one side, and suddenly lifted his head. 
The movement was evidently independent of me, for he 
strained his neck in nearly the opposite direction. Then, for 
the first time, I found that I had a rival seal-hunter in a large 
bear, who was on his belly like myself, waiting with commend- 



DR. KANE'S JOURNEY 215 

able patience and cold feet for a chance of nearer approach. 
' What should I do ? — the bear was doubtless worth more to 
me than the seal ; but the seal was now within shot, and the 
bear a bird in the bush ! Besides, my bullet once invested 
in the seal would leave me defenceless. I might be giving 
a dinner to a bear, and saving myself for his dessert.' These 
meditations were soon brought to a close ; for a second move- 
ment of the seal so aroused my hunter's instincts that I pulled 
the trigger. My cap alone exploded. Instantly with a 
floundering splash, the seal descended into the deep, and the 
bear, with three or four rapid leaps, stood disconsolately by 
the place of his descent. For a single moment we stared 
each other in the face, and then, with that discretion which is 
the better part of valor, the bear ran off in one direction, and 
I followed his example in the other." 

Toward the end of April, Dr. Kane had completed his prep- 
arations for his grand sledge journey to the north. 

"It was," he writes, "to be the crowning expedition of the 
campaign to attain the ultima thule of the Greenland shore, 
measure the waste that lay between it and the unknown west, 
and seek round the furthest circle of the ice for an outlet to 
the mysterious channels beyond." 

"The worst thought I have now in setting out," writes Dr. 
Kane, April 26, "is that of the entire crew I can leave but two 
behind in able condition, and the doctor and Bonsall are the 
only two officers who can help Ohlsen. This is our force, 
four able-bodied and six disabled to keep the brig ; the com- 
mander and seven men, scarcely better upon the average, 
out upon the ice. Eighteen souls, thank God ! certainly not 
eighteen bodies ! 

"I am going this time to follow the ice-belt (Eis-fod) to the 
Great Glacier of Humboldt, and there load up with pemmican 
from our cache of last October. From this point I expect to 
stretch along the face of the glacier inclining to the west of 



216 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

north, and make an attempt to cross the ice of the American 
side. Once on smooth ice, near this shore, I may pass to the 
west, and enter the large indentation whose existence I can 
infer with nearly positive certainty. In this I may find an 
outlet, and determine the state of things beyond the ice- 
clogged area of this bay. 

" I take with me pemmican and bread and tea, a canvas tent, 
five by six, and two sleeping-bags of reindeer skin. The sledge 
has been built on board by Mr. Ohlsen. It is very light, of 
hickory, and but nine feet long. Our kitchen is a soup kettle 
for melting snow and making tea, arranged so as to boil with 
either lard or spirits. 

"For instruments I have a fine Gambey sextant, in addi- 
tion to my ordinary pocket-instrument, an artificial horizon, 
and a Barrow's dip-circle. These occupy little room upon the 
sledge. My telescope and chronometer I carry on my per- 
son." 

Ill equipped, enfeebled in health, discouraged by the failure 
of their caches which had been broken into by bears, the little 
party struggled on as long as strength and provisions lasted. 
"The most picturesque portion of the North Greenland 
coast," writes Dr. Kane, "is to be found after leaving Cape 
George Russell and approaching Dallas Bay. The red sand- 
stones contrast most favorably with the blank whiteness, 
associating the cold tints of the dreary Arctic landscape with 
the warm coloring of more southern lands. The seasons have 
acted on the different layers of the cliff so as to give them the 
appearance of jointed masonry, and the narrow line of green- 
stone at the top caps them with well-simulated battlements. 
One of these interesting freaks of nature became known to 
us as the 'Three Brother Turrets.' 

"The sloping rubbish at the foot of the coast-wall led up, 
like an artificial causeway, to a gorge that was streaming at 
noonday with the southern sun ; while everywhere else the 



GEE AT GLACIER OF HUMBOLDT 217 

rock stood out in the blackest shadow. Just at the edge of 
the bright opening rose the dreamy semblance of a castle, 
flanked with triple towers, completely isolated and defined. 
These were the 'Three Brother Turrets.' 

"I was still more struck with another of the same sort, 
in the immediate neighborhood of my halting ground beyond 
Sunny Gorge, to the north of latitude 79°. A single cliff of 
green stone, marked by the slaty limestone that once encased 
it, rears itself from a crumbled base of sandstones, like the 
boldly chiselled rampart of an ancient city. At its northern 
extremity, on the brink of a deep ravine which has worn its 
way among the ruins, there stands a solitary column or min- 
aret-tower, as sharply finished as if it had been cast for the 
Place Vendome. Yet the length of the shaft alone is four 
hundred and eighty feet ; and it rises on a plinth or pedestal 
itself two hundred and eighty feet high." 

But by far the most remarkable feature of the Great White 
North visited by Dr. Kane was the "Great Glacier of Hum- 
boldt." "I will not attempt to do better by florid descrip- 
tion," he writes. "Men only rhapsodize about Niagara and 
the ocean. My notes speak simply of the ' long evershining 
line of cliff diminished to a well-pointed wedge in the per- 
spective ' ; and again, of ' the face of glistening ice, sweeping 
in a long curve from the low interior, the facets in front 
intensely illuminated by the sun.' But this line of cliff rose 
in solid glassy wall three hundred feet above the water-level, 
with an unknown, unfathomable depth below it ; and its 
curved face, sixty miles in length from Cape Agassi z to Cape 
Forbes, vanished into unknown space at not more than a single 
day's railroad travel from the Pole. The interior with which 
it communicated, and from which it issued, was an unsur- 
veyed mer de glace, an ice-ocean, to the eye of boundless 
dimensions. 

"It was in full sight — the mighty crystal bridge which 



218 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

connects the two continents of America and Greenland. I 
say continents, for Greenland, however insulated it may ulti- 
mately prove to be, is in mass strictly continental. Its last 
possible axis, measured from Cape Farewell to the line of 
this glacier, in the neighborhood of the eightieth parallel, 
gives a length of more than twelve hundred miles, — not 
materially less than that of Australia from its northern to its 
southern cape. Imagine now the centre of such a continent, 
occupied through nearly its whole extent by a deep unbroken 
sea of ice, that gathers perennial increase from the water-shed 
of vast snow-covered mountains, and all the precipitation of 
the atmosphere upon its own surface. Imagine this moving 
onward like a great glacial river, seeking outlets at every 
fiord and valley, rolling icy cataracts and having at last 
reached the northern limit of the land that has borne it up, 
pouring out a mighty frozen torrent into unknown Arctic 
space. 

"It is thus, and only thus, that we must form a just con- 
ception of a phenomenon like this Great Glacier. I had 
looked in my own mind for such an appearance, should I ever 
be fortunate enough to reach the northern coast of Greenland. 
But, now that it was before me, I could hardly realize it. I 
had recognized in my quiet library at home, the beautiful 
analogies which Forbes and Studen have developed between 
the glacier and the river. But I could not comprehend at first 
this complete substitution of ice for water. 

"It was slowly that the conviction dawned on me that I 
was looking upon the counterpart of the great river system of 
Arctic Asia and America. Yet here were no water-feeders 
from the south. Every particle of moisture had its origin 
within the polar circle, and had been converted into ice. 
There were no vast alluvions, no forest or animal traces borne 
down by liquid torrents. Here was a plastic, moving, semi- 
solid mass, obliterating life, swallowing rocks and islands, and 



RETURN AND ILLNESS OF DR. KANE 219 

ploughing its way with irresistible march through the crust 
of an investing sea." 

By May 5, Dr. Kane became delirious and fainted every 
time he was taken from the tent. "My comrades would 
kindly persuade me that, even had I continued sound, we 
could not have proceeded on our journey. The snows were 
very heavy, and increasing as we went ; some of the drifts 
perfectly impassable, and the level floes often four feet deep 
in yielding snow. The scurvy had already broken out among 
the men, with symptoms like my own ; and Morton, our 
strongest man, was beginning to give way. 

"It is the reverse of comfort to me that they shared my 
weakness. All that I could remember with pleasurable feel- 
ing is, that to five brave men, Morton, Riley, Hickey, Ste- 
phenson, and Hans, themselves scarcely able to travel, I owe 
my preservation. They carried me back by forced marches, 
after caching our stores and India-rubber boat near Dallas 
Bay, in lat. 79° 5', long. 66°." 

Such was the "failure" of the Grand Expedition ! 

The gentle hand of summer now extended much-needed 
relief to the stricken crew. Seals began to appear and in 
such large numbers that there was no want of fresh meat, 
which worked wonders in the health of those suffering with 
scurvy. Snow-buntings and gulls and eider-ducks came wing- 
ing their way to their northern breeding places — and the warm 
sun brought out the welcome verdure with marvellous rapidity. 

Dr. Kane's health improved, but he was obliged to give 
up further sledge journeys. To Dr. Hayes was intrusted a 
journey in which he reached the opposite coast of Grinnell 
Land, which he surveyed as far as Cape Frazer. On June 1, 
Morton left the brig with Hans, the Eskimo, for the purpose 
of surveying the Greenland coast beyond the Humboldt 
Glacier. The lateness of the season rendered much of the 
ice extremely unsafe. 



220 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

On June 26, 1854, Morton reached the bold headland of 
Cape Constitution, where the surf dashed so furiously against 
the high, overhanging cliffs, that further progress was impos- 
sible. Climbing from rock to rock, in the hope of finding a 
pass, he stood at last at a height of three hundred feet and 
looked out upon a great waste of waters, stretching as far as 
the eye could reach into the unknown north. About him the 
flocks of sea-swallows, kittiwakes, and brent-geese blended 
their discordant notes with the thunderous roll of the sea. 
From Cape Constitution the coast of Washington Land 
trended to the east, but far to the northwest, beyond the open 
waters of the channel, a peak terminating a range of moun- 
tains was seen towering at a height of from twenty-five hun- 
dred to three thousand feet, and this remote landmark 
received the name of Mount Parry. On the 25th of June, 
Morton commenced his return and reached the brig on the 
10th of July, "staggering by the side of the limping dogs, 
one of which was riding as a passenger upon the sledge." 

Meanwhile, the brief summer was rapidly waning; there 
seemed no promise of the ice breaking up, and the alarming 
prospect of passing a second winter in the ice forced itself 
upon the gallant commander and his brave and suffering crew. 

"We have no coal for a second winter here," he writes; 
"our stock of fresh provisions is utterly exhausted ; and our 
sick need change, as essential to their recovery." 

An unsuccessful attempt was made to reach Sir Edward 
Belcher's squadron at Beechey Island. 

"The season travels on," writes Dr. Kane on August 15; 
"the young ice grows thicker, and my messmates' faces grow 
longer every day. I have again to play buffoon to keep up 
the spirits of the party. A raven ! The snowbirds begin to 
fly to the south in groups, coming at night to our brig to hover 
on the rigging. Winter is hurrying upon us. The poppies 
are quite wilted." 



RETURN AND ILLNESS OF BR. KANE 221 

Two days later we find the entry : — 

"In five days the spring tides come back : should we fail 
in passing with them, I think our fortunes are fixed. The 
young ice bore a man this morning : it had a bad look, this 
man-supporting August ice ! The temperature never falls 
below 28° ; but it is cold o' nights with no fire." 

"August 18, Friday," he writes, "reduced our allowance 
of wood to six pounds a meal. This, among eighteen mouths, 
is one-third of a pound of fuel each. It allows us coffee twice 
a day, and soup once. Our fare besides this is cold pork 
boiled in quantity and eaten as required. This sort of thing 
works badly ; but I must save coal for other emergencies. 
I see 'darkness ahead' ! 

"I inspected the ice again to-day. Bad ! Bad ! — I must 
look another winter in the face. I do not shrink from the 
thought, but, while we have a chance ahead, it is my first duty 
to have all things in readiness to meet it. It is horrible — 
yes, that is the word — to look forward to another year of 
disease and darkness to be met without fresh food and without 
fuel. I should meet it with a more tempered sadness if I 
had no comrades to think for and protect." 

"August 20, Sunday. — Rest for all hands. The daily 
prayer is no longer ' Lord, accept our gratitude and bless our 
undertaking,' but, 'Lord, accept our gratitude and restore 
us to our homes.' The ice shows no change ; after a boat and 
foot journey around the entire southeastern curve of the bay, 
no signs !" 

The future looked so gloomy, and Dr. Kane's apprehension 
for the ultimate safety of his party was so grave, that he deter- 
mined to erect a cairn in a conspicuous spot upon a cliff look- 
ing out upon the icy desert, and on a broad face of rock the 
words — 

" Advance 

"A.D. 1853-54" 



222 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

were painted in letters which could be read at a distance. A 
pyramid of heavy stones perched above it, was marked with 
the Christian symbol of the cross. "It was not without a 
holier sentiment than that of mere utility that I placed under 
this the coffins of our two poor comrades. It was our beacon 
and their gravestone. Near this a hole was worked into the 
rock, and a paper, enclosed in glass, sealed in with melted 
lead. This paper contained a careful record of the expedition 
up to date. 

"The memory of the first winter quarters of Sir John Frank- 
lin, and the painful feelings with which, while standing by 
the graves of his dead, I had five years before sought for 
written signs pointing to the fate of the living, made me 
careful to avoid a similar neglect." 

On August 24, the last hope of liberating the vessel van- 
ished, and, calling his officers and crew together, Dr. Kane 
explained to them the full gravity of the situation, and though 
he was fully determined to stand by the brig and felt that an 
attempted retreat to the settlement of Upernavik so late in 
the season would certainly fail, he nevertheless gave his full 
permission to those desiring to leave, and the promise of 
a brother's welcome, should they be driven back. The 
roll was then called, and eight of the men out of the seventeen 
survivors of the party volunteered to remain in the ship. 
The rest made ready to abandon her, and with a generous 
division of stores and appliances left the ship on the 28th, 
"The party moved off with the elastic step of men confident 
in their purpose, and were out of sight in a few hours." 

Reduced in numbers, many of them helpless, the waning 
efficiency of all, combined with the impending winter darkness 
and the scant supply of fuel and stores, tended sadly to depress 
the isolated group of despairing men. But their intrepid 
commander, realizing the necessity of immediate action, put 
all hands, sick and well, to work according to their strength, 
in preparation for the approaching of winter. 



SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE 223 

Dr. Kane had made a careful study of the Eskimos, and had 
come to the wise conclusion that their form of habitations 
and their peculiar diet, minus their unthrift and filth, was the 
safest and best method of existence under the unusual cir- 
cumstances of an Arctic winter. He therefore determined 
to borrow a lesson from the natives and, as far as possible, 
turn the brig into an igloe. The quarter-deck was padded 
down with moss and turf, so as to form a nearly cold-proof 
covering. Below a space some eighteen feet square was 
packed from floor to ceiling with inner walls of the same ma- 
terial. The floor was carefully calked with plaster-of-Paris 
and common paste, covered a couple of inches deep with 
Manila oakum, and carpeted with canvas. A low moss- 
lined tunnel was arranged to connect with the hold, and 
divided with as many doors and curtains as possible to keep 
out the cold draughts. 

Large banks of snow were also thrown up along the brig's 
sides to keep off the cold wind. These arduous labours in the 
open air greatly improved the health and spirits of the men. 

Intercourse with the Eskimos at the winter settlements 
of Etah and Anoatok, distant some thirty and seventy miles, 
led to a treaty by which the Eskimos, for such presents as 
needles, pins, and knives, engaged to furnish walrus and fresh 
seal meat, to the ship. Common hunting parties were or- 
ganized, and the white men were directed by the natives where 
to find the game. To these supplies of fresh meat, Kane and 
his companions owed their salvation, and the Eskimos on 
their part learned to regard the white men as their bene- 
factors, and sincerely mourned their departure. 

Before the darkness came on, Dr. Kane again nearly lost 
his life in an attempt to secure a seal — while out in the ice, 
Hans had just cried out, " Pusey ! pusey mut ! seal ! seal !" 
"At the same instant," writes Dr. Kane, "the dogs bounded 
forward, and, as I looked up, I saw crowds of gray netsik, 



224 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

the rough or hispid seal of the whalers disporting in an open 
sea of water." 

"I had hardly welcomed the spectacle when I saw that we 
had passed upon a new belt of ice that was obviously unsafe. 
To the right and left and front was one great expanse of snow- 
flowered ice. The nearest solid floe was a mere lump, which 
stood like an island in the white level. To turn was impos- 
sible ; we had to keep up our gait. We urged on the dogs 
with whip and voice, the ice rolling like leather beneath the 
sledge-runners ; it was more than a mile to the lump of solid 
ice. Fear gave to the poor beasts their utmost speed, and 
our voices were soon hushed to silence. 

"This suspense, unrelieved by action or efforts, was intoler- 
able; we knew that there was no remedy but to reach the 
floe, and that everything depended upon our dogs, and our 
dogs alone. A moment's check would plunge the whole 
concern into the rapid tideway; no presence of mind or 
resource, bodily or mental, could avail us. The seals — for 
we were now near enough to see their expressive faces — were 
looking at us with that strange curiosity which seems to be 
their characteristic expression ; we must have passed some 
fifty of them, breast-high out of water, mocking us by their 
self-complacency. 

" This desperate race against fate could not last : the rolling 
of the tough salt-water ice terrified our dogs ; and when 
within fifty paces from the floe, they paused. The left-hand 
runner went through : our leader 'Toodlamick' followed, 
and in one second the entire left of the sledge was submerged. 
My first thought was to liberate the dogs. I leaned forward 
to cut poor 'Tood's' traces, and the next minute was swim- 
ming in a little circle of pasty ice and water alongside him. 
Hans, dear good fellow, drew near to help me, uttering piteous 
expressions in broken English ; but I ordered him to throw 
himself on his belly with his hands and legs extended, and to 




I. I. Hayes 



PRIVATIONS AND SUFFERINGS 225 

make for the island by cogging himself forward with his jack- 
knife. In the meantime — a mere instant — I was flounder- 
ing about with sledge, dogs, and lines, in a confused puddle 
around me. 

"I succeeded in cutting poor Tood's lines and letting him 
scramble to the ice, for the poor fellow was drowning me with 
his piteous caresses, and made my way for the sledge ; but I 
found that it would not buoy me, and that I had no resource 
but to try the circumference of the hole. Around this I 
paddled faithfully, the miserable ice always yielding when my 
hopes of a lodgment were greatest. During this process, I 
enlarged my circle of operations to a very uncomfortable 
diameter, and was beginning to feel weaker after every effort. 
Hans, meanwhile, had reached the firm ice, and was on his 
knees, like a good Moravian, praying incoherently in English 
and Eskimo ; at every fresh crushing-in of the ice he would 
ejaculate 'God!' and when I recommenced my paddling 
he recommenced his prayers. 

"I was nearly gone. My knife had been lost in cutting 
out the dogs ; and a spare one which I carried in my trousers- 
pocket was so enveloped in the wet skins that I could not 
reach it. I owed my extrication at last to a newly broken 
team-dog, who was still fast to the sledge and in struggling 
carried one of the runners chock against the edge of the circle. 
All my previous attempts to use the sledge as a bridge had 
failed, for it broke through, to the much greater injury of the 
ice. I felt it was a last chance. I threw myself on my back, 
so as to lessen as much as possible my weight, and placed the 
nape of my neck against the run or edge of the ice ; then with 
caution slowly bent my leg, and, placing the ball of my 
moccasined foot against the sledge, I pressed steadily against 
the runner, listening to the half-yielding crunch of the ice 
beneath. 

"Presently I felt that my head was pillowed by the ice, 

Q 



226 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

and that my wet fur jumper was sliding up the surface. 
Next came my shoulders ; they were fairly on. One more 
decided push and I was launched up on the ice and safe. I 
reached the ice-floe, and was frictioned by Hans with frightful 
zeal. We saved all the dogs, but the sledge, kayack, tents, 
guns, snow-shoes, and everything besides, were left behind. 
The thermometer at 8° will keep them frozen fast in the sledge 
till we can come and cut them out. 

"On reaching the ship, after a twelve-mile trot, I found so 
much of comfort and warm welcome that I forgot my failure. 
The fire was lit up, and one of our few birds slaughtered forth- 
with. It is with real gratitude that I look back upon my 
escape, and bless the great presiding Goodness for the very 
many resources which remain to us." 

On December 12, the party which had deserted the ship 
returned; they had had a bitter experience struggling for 
more than four months among the hummocks and snow-drifts, 
and were in a pitiable condition. 

"The thermometer was at —50°", writes Dr. Kane; 
"they were covered with rime and snow, and were fainting 
with hunger. It was necessary to use caution in taking them 
below ; for after an exposure of such fearful intensity and 
duration as they had gone through, the warmth of the cabin 
would have prostrated them completely. They had jour- 
neyed three hundred and fifty miles ; and their last run from 
the bay near Etah, some seventy miles in a right line, was 
through the hummocks at this appalling temperature. Poor 
fellows ! as they threw open their Eskimo garments by the 
stove, how they relished the scanty luxuries which we had to 
offer them. The coffee, and the meat-biscuit soup, and the 
molasses, and the wheat bread, even the salt pork, which our 
scurvy forbade the rest of us to touch — how they relished it 
all ! For more than two months they had lived on frozen 
seal and walrus-meat." 



PRIVATIONS AND SUFFERINGS 227 

To Dr. Kane's determination to stand by the brig was 
due the preservation of the entire party, for had he been less 
firm in his resolution, the entire expedition would un- 
doubtedly have perished on the ice. 

"February closes," writes the heroic leader; "thank God 
the lapse of its twenty-eight days ! Should the thirty-one 
of the coming March not drag us further downward, we may 
hope for a successful close to this dreary drama. By April 10 
we should have seals ; and when they come, if we remain to 
welcome them, we can call ourselves saved. But a fair review 
of our prospects tells me that I must look the lion in the face. 
The scurvy is steadily gaining on us. I do my best to sus- 
tain the more desperate cases, but as fast as I partially build 
up one, another is stricken down. Of the six workers of our 
party, as I counted them a month ago, two are unable to do 
out-door work, and the remaining four divide the duty of 
the ship among them. Hans musters his remaining energies 
to conduct the hunt. Petersen is his disheartened, moping 
assistant. The other two, Bonsall and myself, have all the 
daily offices of household and hospital. 

"We chop five large sacks of ice, cut six fathoms of eight- 
inch hawser into junks of a foot each, serve out the meat 
when we have it, hack at the molasses, and hew out with 
crow-bar and axe the pork and dried apples ; pass up the 
foul slop and cleansings of our dormitory, and in a word, cook, 
scullionize, and attend the sick. 

"Added to this, for five nights running, I have kept watch 
from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., catching such naps as I could in the day 
without changing my clothes, but carefully waking every 
hour to note thermometers." 

The sufferings endured during the month of March are 
painfully interesting. Had Dr. Kane's strength given way 
at this juncture, the whole party, deprived of their leading 
spirit, must have perished. He attributes his comparative 



228 THE GBEAT white north 

immunity from scurvy to "rat-soup." These rodents, sur- 
viving the bleak winter, had overrun the ship ; but he was the 
only man who would eat them. Having no fuel, the only 
method of heating was the Eskimo method of lamps ; the 
soot and fatty carbon blacking everything on which it rested. 

Heroic methods were made to keep in touch with the 
friendly natives, and Hans, on more than one occasion, saved 
the life of the party by securing fresh meat from them. 

To add to their troubles, two men attempted to desert 
at this critical juncture; only one succeeded — Godfrey — 
who joined the Eskimos. But strange as it may seem, this 
man returned with a supply of meat for his desperate com- 
rades, while refusing to return on board ship. Fearing God- 
frey might have done bodily harm to Hans, who was absent, 
Dr. Kane determined to follow the man and bring him back. 
To this end he made a journey along with a dog sledge of 
over eighty miles to the Eskimo settlement, and returned with 
his man. 

There was no other alternative but to prepare for aban- 
doning the Advance, as early in the spring as the weather 
would permit, and hope to reach the Danish settlements at 
Upernavik. Before the boats could be transferred to the 
open water, much labour in preparation must be expended, and 
the most of the party were bedridden and unable to move. 

Not until May 20, 1855, were they able to bid farewell 
to the brig, and the retreat was started under the most trying 
experiences of sickness and famine. By June 17, they stood 
beside open sea, but not for fifty-six more days did they reach 
Upernavik. 

Before the open water was reached, a sad and tragic 
accident had befallen one of the ablest men. "I had 
left the party on the floe," writes Dr. Kane, "with many 
apprehensions for their safety, and the result proved they 
were not without cause. While crossing a 'tide-hole' one 



ABANDONMENT OF THE "ADVANCE" 229 

of the runners of the Hope's sledge broke through, and, but 
for the strength and presence of mind of Ohlsen, the boat 
would have gone under. He saw the ice give way, and, by a 
violent exercise of strength, passed a capstan-bar under the 
sledge, and thus bore the load till it was hauled on to safer ice. 
He was a very powerful man, and might have done this with- 
out injuring himself, but it would seem his footing gave way 
under him, forcing him to make a still more desperate effort 
to extricate himself. It cost him his life ; he died three days 
afterwards. 

" I was bringing down George Stephenson from the sick- 
station, and, my sledge being heavily laden, I had just 
crossed, with some anxiety, near the spot at which the accident 
occurred. A little way beyond we met Mr. Ohlsen, seated 
upon a lump of ice and very pale. He pointed to the camp 
about three miles farther on, and told us in a faint voice, that 
he had not detained the party : he ' had a little cramp in the 
small of his back/ but would soon be better. 

" I put him at once in Stephenson's place, and drove him 
on to the Faith. There he was placed in the stern sheets of 
the boat, and well muffled up in our best buffalo robes. 
During all that night he was assiduously attended by Dr. 
Hayes ; but he sank rapidly. His symptoms had from the 
first a certain obscure but fatal resemblance to our winter's 
tetanus and filled us with forebodings." 

The strength of the stricken band was gradually reaching 
its minimum. The exertion of bailing the unseaworthy boats 
required all the strength left to the enfeebled party. They 
breathed heavily, their limbs swelled, and they suffered from 
insomnia, so that each day rendered their weakened efforts 
less promising. At this crisis of their fortunes, they saw a 
large seal floating on a small patch of ice, and seemingly 
asleep. 

"Trembling with anxiety," writes Dr. Kane, "we prepared 



230 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

to crawl down upon him. Petersen, with a large English 
rifle, was stationed in the bow, and stockings were drawn 
over the oars as mufflers. As we neared the animal, our excite- 
ment became so intense that the men could hardly keep stroke. 
He was not asleep ; for he reared his head when we were 
almost within rifle-shot ; and to this day I can remember the 
hard, careworn, almost despairing expression of the men's 
thin faces as they saw him move ; their thin lives depended 
on his capture. I depressed my hand nervously, as a signal 
for Petersen to fire. McGary hung upon his oar, and the 
boat seemed to me within certain range. Looking at Peter- 
sen, I saw that the poor fellow was paralysed by his anxiety, 
trying vainly to obtain a rest for his gun against the cut- 
water of the boat. The seal rose on his fore flipper, gazed 
at us for a moment with frightened curiosity, and coiled him- 
self for a plunge. At that instant, simultaneously with the 
crack of our rifle, he relaxed his long length on the ice, and, 
at the very brink of the water, his head fell helpless to one side. 
I would have ordered another shot, but no discipline could 
have controlled the men. With a wild yell, each vociferating 
according to his own impulse, they urged their boats upon the 
floes. A crowd of hands seized the seal, and bore him up to 
safer ice. The men seemed half crazy. I had not realized 
how much we were reduced by absolute famine. They ran 
over the floe, crying and laughing, and brandishing their 
knives. It was not five minutes before every man was suck- 
ing his bloody fingers, or mouthing long strips of raw blubber. 
Not an ounce of this seal was lost." 

A few days later the familiar cadence of a " halloo" fell 
upon the ears. 

"Listen, Petersen! oars, men!" "What is it?" — and 
he listened quietly at first and then, trembling said, in a half 
whisper, "Danne markers !" 

"I remember this," writes Kane, "the first tone of Chris- 



ABANDONMENT OF THE "ADVANCE" 231 

tian voice which had greeted our return to the world. How 
we all stood up and peered into the distant nooks ; and how 
the cry came to us again, just as, having seen nothing, we 
were doubting whether the whole was not a dream ; and 
then how, with long sweeps, the white ash cracking under the 
spring of the rowers, we stood for the cape that the sound 
proceeded from, and how nervously we scanned the green 
spots which our experience, grown now into instinct, told us 
would be the likely camping ground of wayfarer. By-and-by 
— for we must have been pulling a good half hour — the 
single mast of a small shallop showed itself ; and Petersen, 
who had been very quiet and grave, burst out into an inco- 
herent fit of crying, only relieved by broken exclamations of 
mingled Danish and English. ' 'Tis the Upernavik oil-boat ! 
the Fraulein Flaischer ! Carlie Mossyn, the assistant cooper, 
must be on his road to Kingatok for blubber. The Mariane 
(the one animal ship) has come, and Carlie Mossyn — ' and 
here he did it all over again, gulping down his words and 
wringing his hands." 

Another halt, a night's rest, and the settlement was reached, 
where a generous welcome awaited the weary explorers. 

"For eighty-four days," says Kane, "we had lived in the 
open air. Our habits were hard and weather-worn. We 
could not remain within the four walls of a house without a 
distressing sense of suffocation. But we drank coffee that 
night before many a hospitable threshold, and listened again 
and again to the hymn of welcome, which, sung by many 
voices, greeted our deliverance." 

The Danish vessel was not ready for her homeward journey 
till the 4th of September. On the 6th, Dr. Kane and his party 
left Upernavik, in the Mariane, whose captain had promised 
to convey them to the Shetland Islands ; on the 11th they 
touched at Godhaven, the inspectorate of North Greenland, 
and later at Disco, where the Mariane remained a few days. 



232 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

As early as February 3, 1855, a resolution had passed 
Congress authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to despatch 
a suitable steamer and tender for the relief of Dr. Kane. The 
Release and Arctic were accordingly equipped and put in 
command of Lieutenant Hartstein, accompanied by a brother 
of Dr. Kane. By July 5, the relief expedition had reached 
Lievely, Isle of Disco, Greenland, and from this point Lieu- 
tenant Hartstein says in a letter to the Secretary of the Navy : 
"To avoid further risk of human life, in a search so extremely 
hazardous, I would suggest the impropriety of making any 
efforts to relieve us if we should not return ; feeling confident 
that we shall be able to accomplish all necessary for our own 
release, under the most extraordinary circumstances." 

Having forced a passage through the closely packed ice in- 
to the north water, they proceeded to examine the coast from 
Cape York to Wolstenholme Island, also Cape Alexander 
and Sutherland Island. 

A few stones heaped together near Point Pellam gave 
assurance of Kane's having been there, but no other clew 
was secured. Taking a retrograde course, they examined 
Cape Hatherton and Littleton Island, finally reaching a 
point some fifteen miles northwest of Cape Alexander. Here 
they were surprised to fall in with some Eskimos, in whose 
possession were found certain articles known to have be- 
longed to Dr. Kane. After diligent inquiries, they learned 
of the abandonment of the ship and the retreat to the south 
of Dr. Kane's party. 

After some further reconnoitring in the hope of finding the 
party should they be in the vicinity, Lieutenant Hartstein 
decided to make for Upernavik. A furious gale drove them 
out of their course adrift in the ice pack. 

"After this gale," writes Dr. Kane's brother, "we had little 
or no more troubles with the ice ; one or two trifling de- 
tentions of a few days brought us to open water. We had 



RETREAT AND RESCUE 233 

drifted so far to the south that Lievely was nearer than 
Upernavik, and Captain Hartstein determined to put in 
there. We had a heavy gale the night after we left the ice ; 
but so glad were we all to get clear of it, that I heard no 
complaints about rough weather. It cleared away beau- 
tifully towards morning, and we were all on the deck, ad- 
miring the clear water, and the fantastic shapes of the water- 
washed icebergs. All hands were in high spirits ; the gale 
had blown in the right direction, and in a few hours we should 
be in Lievely. The rocks of its land-locked harbor were 
already in sight. We were discussing our news by anticipa- 
tion, when the man in the crow's nest cried out : ' A brig 
' in the harbor ! ' and the next minute, before we had time to 
congratulate each other on the chance of sending letters 
home, that she had hoisted American colors — a delicate 
compliment, we thought, on the part of our friends, the Danes. 
I believe our captain was about to return it, when to our 
surprise, she hoisted another flag, the veritable one which 
had gone out with the Advance, bearing the name of Mr. 
Henry Grinnell. At the same moment, two boats were seen 
rounding the point, and pulling towards us. Did they 
contain our lost friends? Yes, the sailors had settled that. 
' Those are Yankees, sir ; no Danes ever feathered their oars 
that way.' 

"For those who had friends among the missing party, the 
few minutes that followed were of bitter anxiety ; for the men 
in the boats were long-bearded and weather-beaten ; they 
had strange wild costumes ; there was no possibility of 
recognition." 

In Dr. Kane's own words, let us conclude the chapter : — 

"Presently we were alongside. An officer whom I shall 

ever remember as a cherished friend, Captain Hartstein, 

hailed a little man in a ragged flannel shirt. 'Is this Dr. 

Kane ? ' and with the ' Yes ! ' that followed, the rigging was 



234 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

manned by our countrymen, and cheers welcomed us back 
to the social world of love which they represented." 

Dr. Kane and his party reached New York, October 11, 
1855, and received an enthusiastic welcome, after an absence 
of thirty months. Honours of the most nattering kind 
awaited him on both sides of the Atlantic, but his health 
was completely broken by the trials of his wonderful journey. 
On February 16, 1857, he died at Havana, in the thirty- 
seventh year of his age. 




"Tennyson Monument" 

The tall shaft, of pale green granite, was discovered by 
Dr. Kane 



CHAPTER XII 

Dr. Hayes's expedition. Winter quarters at Port Foulke. — Green- 
land coast. — Death of Sonntag. — Dr. Hayes's journey. — Attempt 
to cross Smith Sound. — Hayes's farthest. — " Open Polar Sea." 
— Homeward bound. 

In 1860, Dr. Hayes, who had accompanied the second 
Grinnell expedition and rendered much valuable service to 
Dr. Kane and his party, once more sailed from America for 
the purpose of completing the survey of the north coasts of 
Greenland and Grinnell Land and to make such explorations as 
he might find practicable in the direction of the North Pole. 

"My proposed base of operations," writes Dr. Hayes, 
"was Grinnell Land, which I had discovered on my former 
voyage, and had personally traced beyond latitude 80°, far 
enough to satisfy that it was available for my design." 

On the morning of July 8, 1860, the United States was fairly 
on her way, and, by July 30, Dr. Hayes had the satisfaction 
of being once more within the Arctic Circle. 

"We had some rough handling in Davis' Strait," he writes. 
"Once I thought we had surely come ingloriously to grief. 
We were running before the wind and fighting a wretched 
cross-sea under reefed fore and mainsail and jib, when the 
fore-rail was carried away ; — down came everything to the 
deck ; and there was left not a stitch of canvas on the schooner 
but the lumbering mainsail. It was a miracle that we did 
not broach to and go to the bottom. Nothing saved us but 
a steady hand at the helm." 

. After several narrow escapes in the ice field, the United 
States was at length compelled to take up her winter quarters 

235 



236 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

at Port Foulke, on the Greenland coast, about twenty miles 
to the south of Rensselaer harbour. An abundant commis- 
sariat, amply supplied by fresh meat, kept up the general 
health of the party during the long night, and they escaped 
scurvy, which had proved so fatal to Dr. Kane's crew. 

A great catastrophe was the death by freezing of Sonntag, 
the astronomer, who had been a valuable member of Dr. 
Kane's expedition, and a much-beloved friend of Dr. Hayes. 
Accompanied by Hans Hendrik, he had started on a sledge 
journey to the Etah Eskimo. On February 1, Dr. Hayes 
writes : — 

"Hans has given me the story of his journey, and I sit 
down to record it with very painful emotions. The travellers 
rounded Cape Alexander without difficulty, finding the ice 
solid ; they did not halt until they had reached Sutherland 
Island, where they built a snow hut and rested for a few hours. 
Continuing thence down the coast, they sought the Esquimaux 
at Sorfalik without success. The native hut at that place 
being in ruins, they made for their shelter another house of 
snow ; and, after being well rested, they set out directly for 
Northumberland Island, having concluded that it was useless 
to seek longer for natives on the north side of the Sound. 
They had proceeded on their course about four or five miles 
as nearly as I can judge from Hans' description, when Sonn- 
tag, growing a little chilled, sprang off the sledge and ran ahead 
of the dogs to warm himself with the exercise. The tangling 
of a trace obliging Hans to halt the team for a few minutes, 
he fell some distance behind, and was hurrying to catch 
up, when he suddenly observed Sonntag sinking. He had 
come upon the thin ice, covering a recently open tide-crack, 
and, probably not observing his footing, he stepped upon it 
unawares. Hans hastened to his rescue, and aided him out 
of the water, and then turned back for the shelter which they 
had recently abandoned. A light wind was blowing at the 



DR. HAYES'S EXPEDITION 237 

time from the northeast, and this, according to Hans, caused 
Sonntag to seek the hut without stopping to change his wet 
clothing. At first he ran beside the sledge, and thus guarded 
against danger ; but after a while he rode, and when they 
halted at Sorfalik, Hans discovered that his companion was 
stiff and speechless. Assisting him into the hut with all 
possible despatch, Hans states that he removed the wet and 
frozen clothing, and placed Sonntag in the sleeping-bag. He 
next gave him some brandy which he found in a flask on the 
sledge ; and, having tightly closed the hut, he lighted the 
alcohol lamp, for the double purpose of elevating the tempera- 
ture and making some coffee ; but all of his efforts were 
unavailing, and, after remaining for nearly a day unconscious, 
Sonntag died. He did not speak after reaching the hut, and 
left no message of any kind. After closing up the mouth of 
the hut, so that the body might not be disturbed by bears 
or foxes, Hans again set out southward, and reached Nor- 
thumberland Island without inconvenience." 

Early in April, 1861, Dr. Hayes left the ship "to plunge 
into the wilderness." Having previously ascertained that an 
advance along the Greenland shore was utterly impossible, 
he resolved to cross the sound, and to try his fortunes along 
the coast of Grinnell Land. 

"By winding to the right and left," he writes, "and by 
occasionally retracing our steps, we managed to get over the 
first few miles without much embarrassment, but further on 
the track was rough, past description. I can compare it to 
nothing but a promiscuous accumulation of rocks piled up 
over a vast plain in great heaps and endless ridges. The 
interstices between these closely accumulated ice-masses are 
filled up to some extent with drifted snow." 

It is not surprising that after such difficult travel, at the end 
of twenty-five days they had not yet reached halfway across 
the sound. 



238 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

"My party are in a very sorry condition," writes Dr. 
Hayes. "One of the men has sprained his back from lifting ; 
another has sprained his ankle ; another has gastritis ; an- 
other a frosted toe ; and all are thoroughly overwhelmed 
with fatigue. The men do not stand it as well as the dogs." 

And the next day, April 26, he writes : — 

"I feel to-night that I am getting rapidly to the end of my 
rope. Each day strengthens the conviction, not only that 
we can never reach Grinnell Land, with provisions for a 
journey up the coast to the Polar Sea, but that it cannot be 
done at all. I have talked to the officers, and they are all of 
this opinion. They say the thing is hopeless. Dodge put it 
thus : ' You might as well try to cross the city of New York 
over the house-tops.'" 

Though disheartened, their bold leader was not discouraged, 
and, sending the main party back to the schooner, he continued 
to plunge into the hummocks. After fourteen days of almost 
superhuman exertion, he reached the coast, May 11, when he 
writes : — 

"In camp at last, close under the land; and as happy 
as men can be who have achieved success and await supper. 
As we rounded to in a convenient place for our camp, 
McDonald looked up at the tall Cape, which rose above our 
heads ; and, as he turned away to get our furnace to prepare 
a much-needed meal, he was heard to grumble in a serio- 
comic tone : 'Well, I wonder if that is land, or only "Cape 
Fly-away" after- all?'" 

But though land was reached, the trials of the journey 
along the coast were none the less harassing. With untiring 
energy, Dr. Hayes pushed on until the 18th of May, when 
further progress became impossible, owing to a deep bay, 
mottled with a white sheet and dark patches, these latter 
being either soft decaying ice or places where the ice had 
wholly disappeared. 



DR. HAYES'S EXPEDITION 239 

"And now," writes Dr. Hayes, "my journey was ended, and 
I had nothing to do but make my way back to Port Foulke. 
The advancing season, the rapidity with which the thaw 
was taking place, the certainty that the open water was eating 
into Smith Sound as well as through Baffin Bay from the 
south, as through Kennedy Channel from the north, thus 
endangering my return across to the Greenland shore, warned 
me that I had lingered long enough. 

"It now only remained for us to plant our flag in token of 
our discovery, and to deposit a record proof of our presence. 
The flags were tied to the whip-lash, and suspended between 
two tall rocks, and while we were building a cairn, they were 
allowed to flutter in the breeze ; then, tearing a leaf from my 
note-book, I wrote on it as follows : — 

" ' This point, the most northern land that has ever been 
reached, was visited by the undersigned, May 18th, 19th, 1861, 
accompanied by George T. Knorr, travelling dog-sledge. 
We arrived here after a toilsome march of forty-six days from 
my winter harbor near Cape Alexander, at the mouth of 
Smith Sound. My observations place us in latitude 81° 35', 
longitude 70° 30' W. Our further progress was stopped by 
rotten ice and cracks. Kennedy Channel appears to expand 
into the Polar Basin ; and, satisfied that it is navigable at 
least during the months of July, August, and September, I go 
hence to my winter harbor, to make another trial to get 
through Smith Sound with my vessel, after the ice breaks up 
this summer. 

" ' I. I. Hayes. 

"'May 19, 1861.'" 

"I quit the place with reluctance," he writes. "It pos- 
sessed a fascination for me, and it was with no ordinary sen- 
sations that I contemplated my situation, with one solitary 
companion, in that hitherto untrodden desert ; while my 
nearness to the earth's axis, the consciousness of standing 



240 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

upon land beyond the limits of previous observations, the 
reflections which crossed my mind respecting the vast ocean 
which lay spread out before me, the thought that these ice- 
girdled waters where dwell human beings of an unknown race, 
were circumstances calculated to invest the very air with 
mystery, to deepen the curiosity, and to strengthen the reso- 
lution to persevere in my determination to sail upon this sea 
and to explore its furthest limits ; and as I recalled the 
struggles which had been made to reach this sea, — through 
the ice and across the ice, — by generations of brave men, it 
seemed as if the spirits of these Old Worthies came to encour- 
age me, as their experience had already guided me ; and I felt 
that I had within my grasp 'the great and notable thing' 
which had inspired the zeal of sturdy Frobisher, and that I 
had achieved the hope of matchless Parry." The much- 
discussed "open polar sea," in which Dr. Hayes had implicit 
faith, has since been found to be only the south half of Ken- 
nedy Channel, which freezes late and opens early, owing to the 
very high tides, that sometimes rise thirty feet. Dr. Hayes 
reached the schooner, June 3, after an absence of two months, 
in which he travelled not less than 1300 miles. After careful 
examination of his ship, Dr. Hayes found she had greatly 
suffered from her experience in the ice, and that, for the safety 
of his party, great care had to be exercised in her navi- 
gation. 

"By dint of much earnest exertion," he writes, "and the 
use of bolts and spikes, — by replacing the torn cut-water, 
careful calking, and renewal of the iron plates, — it seemed 
probable that the schooner would be sea-worthy ; but I was 
forced to agree with my sailing master, that to strike the ice 
again was sure to sink her." 

Dr. Hayes awaited with some anxiety the breaking up of 
the ice, and the liberation of the schooner. Not until July 
14, 1861, did the United States glide out to sea under full sail, 



DR. HAYES'S EXPEDITION 241 

and by August 10 she was in latitude 74° 19', longitude 66°. 
By the 12th they made land which proved to be Horse's 
Head, and three days later found the schooner at anchor in 
Upernavik harbour. 

"While the chain was yet clinking in the hawse-hole," 
writes Dr. Hayes, "an old Dane, dressed in seal-skins, and 
possessing a small stock of English and a large stock of articles 
to trade, pulled off to us with an Eskimo crew, and with 
little ceremony, clambered over the gangway. Knorr met 
him, and, without any ceremony at all, demanded the news. 

" 'Oh ! dere's plenty news !' 

" ' Out with it, man ! What is it ? ' 

"'Oh! de Sout States dey go agin de Nort' States, and 
dere's plenty fight ! ' 

"I heard the answer, and wondering what strange compli- 
cation of European politics had kindled another Continental 
war, called this Polar Emmaeus to the quarter deck. Had 
he any news from America ? 

'"Oh! 'tis 'merica me speak! De Sout' States, you see? 
and dere's plenty fight ! ' 

"Yes, I did see ! but I did not believe that he told the 
truth, and awaited letters which I knew must have come out 
with the Danish vessel, and which were immediately sent for 
to the Government House." 

The condition of the schooner necessitated putting in at 
Halifax for repairs, and, four days after leaving, they made 
the Boston Lights. "We picked up a pilot," writes Dr. 
Hayes, "out of the thickest fog that I have ever seen south 
of the Arctic Circle, and with a light wind stood into harbor. 
As the night wore on the wind fell away almost to calm ; 
the fog thickened more and more, if that were possible, as we 
sagged along over the dead waters toward the anchorage. 
The night was filled with an oppressive gloom. The lights 
hanging at the mast-heads of the vessels which we passed had 



242 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

the ghastly glimmer of tapers burning in a charnel-house. 
We saw no vessel moving but our own, and even those which 
lay at anchor seemed like phantom ships floating in the murky 
air. I never saw the ship's company so lifeless, or so de- 
pressed, even in times of real danger." 

"I landed on Long Wharf," he continues, "and found my 
way into State Street. Two or three figures were moving 
through the thick vapors, and their solemn foot-fall broke 
the worse than Arctic stillness. I reached Washington Street, 
and walked anxiously westward. A newsboy passed me. I 
seized a paper, and the first thing which caught my eye was 
the account of the Ball's Bluff battle, in which had fallen many 
of the noblest sons of Boston ; and it seemed as if the very air 
had shrouded itself in mourning for them, and that the heavens 
wept tears for the city's slain. I was wending my way to 
the house of a friend, but I thought it likely that he was not 
there. I felt like a stranger in a strange land, and yet every 
object which I passed was familiar. Friends, country, 
everything seemed swallowed up in some vast calamity, and, 
doubtful and irresolute, I turned back sad and dejected, and 
found my way on board again through the dull, dull fog." 

Dr. Hayes made another journey beyond the Arctic Circle 
in 1869, in the Panther, as the guest of the artist Bradford. 
Over a thousand miles of the Greenland coast was visited, 
terminating a good way beyond the last outpost of civilization 
on the globe, in the midst of the much -dreaded "ice-pack" 
of Melville Bay. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Charles Francis Hall. — Early life. — Interest in fate of Sir John 
Franklin. — First journey to Greenland. — Discovery of Fro- 
bisher relics. — Experiences and study of the Eskimos. — Second 
journey. — Delays and disappointments. — Sledging trips. — King 
William's Land at last. — Franklin relics. — Return of Hall to 
United States. — Polaris expedition. — Reaches high northing. — 
Hall's sledge journey. — Return and death. — Polaris winters. 
No escape. — Polaris is wrecked. — Part of crew adrift on the 
ice-floe. — Remainder build winter hut. — Final rescue and return 
to United States. 

The personality of Charles Francis Hall is singularly 
interesting. Born in Rochester, New Hampshire, in 1821, 
he received a common school education and pursued the voca- 
tion of blacksmith, journalist, stationer, and engraver. 

In 1850, while living in Cincinnati, Ohio, he became deeply 
interested in the fate of Sir John Franklin, and for over nine 
years made a thorough study of Arctic history and, especially, 
of the Franklin search expeditions. Unconvinced by the 
admirable report of Captain M'Clintock in 1859 of the death 
of Franklin and the fate of his companions, Hall maintained 
the opinion that survivors of the unfortunate expedition must 
still be living among the Eskimos, and could be found. 
By the aid of public subscriptions and the liberal patronage 
of Mr. Henry Grinnell, Hall undertook a journey, May 29, 
1860, sailing from New London, on the whaler, George Henry, 
commanded by Captain S. O. Buddington. 

Forty days later (7th of July, 1860), the George Henry 
dropped anchor at Holsteinborg, Greenland. Hall was un- 

243 



244 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

successful in the main object of his undertaking (his proposed 
journey to King William Land) and spent the best part of 
two years near Frobisher Bay, where he acquired much knowl- 
edge of the speech, habits, and life of the Eskimos, and dis- 
covered a quantity of relics left by Frobisher's expedition of 
1577-1578. 

Of the first traditionary history gained from the Eskimos 
relative to Frobisher's expedition, Hall says in notes under 
date of April 9, 1861 : — 

"Among the traditions handed down from one generation 
to another, there is this : that many — very many years ago, 
some white men built a ship on one of the islands of Frobisher 
Bay and went away. 

"I think I can see through this in this way: Frobisher, 
in 1578, assembled a large part of his fleet in what he called 
'Countess of Warwick Sound' (said to be in that bay below 
us), when a council was held on the 1st of August, at which 
it was determined to send all persons and things on shore upon 
' Countess of Warwick Island' ; and on August 2d orders were 
proclaimed, by sound of trumpet, for the guidance of the 
company during their abode thereon. For reasons stated 
in the history, the company did not tarry here long, but de- 
parted for ' Meta Incognita,' and thence to England, how 
may not the fact of timbers, chips, etc., etc., having been found 
on one of the islands (within a day's journey of here) many 
years ago, prove that the said materials were of this Fro- 
bisher's company, and that hence the Innuit tradition ? In a 
few days I hope to be exploring Frobisher Bay." 

Describing the circumstances of his interesting discovery on 
Countess of Warwick Island, Hall writes : — 

"We continued on around the island, finding, every few 
fathoms in our progress, numerous Innuit relics. At length 
we arrived at a plain that extended back a considerable 
distance from the coast. Here we recognized, at our right, 



CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 245 

about sixty rods distant, the point to which we first directed 
our steps on reaching the high land after leaving the boat. 

"I was several fathoms in advance of Koo-ou-le-arng, 
hastening on, being desirous to make as extended a search as 
the brief remaining daylight would allow, when, lifting my 
eyes from the ground near me, I discovered, a considerable 
distance ahead, an object of an unusual appearance. But a 
second look satisfied me that what I saw were simply stones 
scattered about and covered with black moss. I continued 
my course, keeping as near the coast as possible. I was now 
nearing the spot where I had first descried the black object. 
It again met my view ; and my original thought on first 
seeing it resumed at once the ascendency in my mind. I 
hastened to the spot. 'Great God ! Thou hast rewarded 
me in my search ! ' was the sentiment that came overwhelm- 
ingly into my thankful soul. On casting my eyes all around, 
seeing and feeling the character (moss-aged, for some of the 
pieces I saw had pellicles of black moss on them) of the relics 
before and under me, I felt as — I cannot tell what my feel- 
ings were — what I saw before me was sea-coal of Frobisher's 
expedition of 1578, left here near three centuries ago ! " 

A more thorough search in the vicinity undertaken at a 
later period resulted in the finding of flint-stone ; fragments 
of tile, glass, pottery, an excavation which Hall called an 
abandoned mine, the ruins of three stone houses, one of which 
was twelve feet in diameter, with palpable evidence of its 
having been erected on a foundation of stone cemented to- 
gether with lime and sand ; large pieces of iron time-eaten and 
weather-worn, which "the rust of three centuries had firmly 
cemented to the sand and stones in which it had lain." 

It will be remembered that of the one hundred men sent 
out from England with Frobisher in 1578, the majority were 
miners sent for the express purpose of digging for the rich 
ore of which Frobisher had carried specimens home on his 



246 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

return from his second voyage, and which was supposed to be 
very valuable. The miners made "proofs," as they are called, 
in various parts of the regions discovered by him. Some of 
these "proofs" are doubtless what Captain Hall found, and, 
in connection with other circumstances, evidenced the exact 
location of Frobisher's "Countess of Warwick Mine." Cap- 
tain Hall presented many of the relics he brought home to 
the British government through the Royal Geographical 
Society of London. 

Upon his return to New London (September 13, 1862), Hall 
immediately endeavoured, through lectures and personal 
appeals, to equip another expedition to the Arctic. The 
unsettled state of the nation, plunged into the horrors of a 
great civil war, made his efforts practically futile ; undaunted 
by the discouraging response, he nevertheless sailed July 1, 
1864, and in August was landed, with his meagre equipment, 
boat and provisions, on Depot Island, Hudson Bay, 64° N., 
90° W. Adopting the habits and life of the Eskimos, Hall 
spent five years in pursuing his researches, receiving occa- 
sionally supplies from whalers. 

The first year was spent in unsuccessful efforts to secure 
Eskimo aid. The winter of 1865-1866, Hall had his head- 
quarters at Fort Hope, Repulse Bay, and in the spring 
reached Cape Weyton, 68° N., 89° W. The Eskimos refused 
to accompany him farther, but he had the good fortune to 
meet with natives who had visited the deserted ships, and 
had seen Franklin. Hall secured from these Eskimos con- 
siderable silver bearing the crest of Franklin and other 
officers. 

In February, 1867, Hall visited Igloolik, the winter quarters 
of Parry in 1822. He improved the next year by following 
up the west side of Melville Peninsula, completing and sur- 
veying the short gap between Rae's farthest, 1846, and Parry's 
farthest in Fury Strait, 1825. The winter of 1868-1869 



CAPTAIN HALL AND ESKIMOS 



247 




Captain Hall and Eskimos 



248 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

was spent at Fort Hope, where he at last succeeded in secur- 
ing Eskimo aid for the final attempt to reach King William 
Land. He started in March, 1869, in company with ten 
Eskimos and dog sledges. 

Crossing Rae Peninsula to Committee Bay and via Boothia 
Isthmus, the party reached James Ross Strait, distant some 
sixty miles from King William Land. Here he had difficulty 
in persuading the natives to continue, but at Simpson Island 
the success of a musk-ox hunt restored their good humour, 
and they consented to proceed. On the 12th of May, 1869, 
Hall reached the mainland ; his stay was necessarily very 
brief, as his native companions could not be persuaded to 
linger in such a desolate country. 

Upon his return to Repulse Bay, Captain Hall, in a letter to 
Mr. Henry Grinnell, dated June 20, 1869, writes in part : — 

"The result of my sledge journey to King William's Land 
may be summed up thus : None of Sir John Franklin's com- 
panions ever reached or died on Montreal Island. It was late 
in July, 1848, that Crozier and his party of about forty or 
forty-five passed down the west coast of King William's 
Land in the vicinity of Cape Herschel. The party was drag- 
ging two sledges on the sea-ice, which was nearly in its last 
stage of dissolution ; one a large sledge laden with an awning- 
covered boat, and the other a small one laden with provisions 
and camp material. Just before Crozier and party arrived 
at Cape Herschel, they were met by four families of natives, 
and both parties went into camp near each other. Two 
Eskimo men, who were of the native party, gave me much 
sad, but deeply interesting, information. Some of it stirred 
my heart with sadness, intermingled with rage, for it was a 
confession that they, with their companions, did secretly and 
hastily abandon Crozier and his party to suffer and die for 
need of fresh provisions, when in truth it was in the power 
of the natives to save every man alive. The next trace of 



hall's second journey 249 

Crozier and his party is to be found in the skeleton which 
M'Clintock discovered a little below, to the southward and 
eastward of Cape Herschel. This was never found by the 
natives. The next trace is a camping place on the sea-shore 
of King William's Land, about three miles eastward of 
Pfeffer River, where two men died and received Christian ( ?) 
burial. At this place fish-bones were found by the natives, 
which showed them that Crozier and his party had caught 
while there a species of fish excellent for food, with which the 
sea there abounds. The next trace of this party occurs about 
five or six miles eastward, on a long point of King William's 
Land, where one man died and was buried. Then about 
south-southeast two and a half miles further, the next trace 
occurs on Todd's Islet, where the remains of five men lie. 
The next certain trace of this party is on the west side of the 
islet, west of Point Richardson, on some low land that is an 
island or part of the mainland, as the tide may be. Here 
the awning-covered boat and the remains of about thirty 
or thirty-five of Crozier's party were found by the native 
Poo-yet-ta, of whom Sir John Ross has given a description 
in the account of his voyage in the Victory in 1829-'34. In 
the spring of 1849, a large tent was found by the natives whom 
I saw, the floor of which was completely covered with the 
remains of white men. 

" Close by were two graves. This tent was a little way 
inland from the head of Terror Bay. In the spring of 1861, 
when the snow was nearly all gone, an Eskimo party, con- 
ducted by a native well known throughout the northern re- 
gions, found two boats, with many skeletons in and about 
them. One of these boats had been previously found by 
M'Clintock ; the other was found lying from a quarter to a 
half mile distant, and must have been completely entombed 
in snow at the time M'Clintock's parties were there, or they 
most assuredly would have seen it. In and about this boat, 



250 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

beside the skeletons alluded to, were found many relics, most 
of them similar in character to those M'Clintock has enu- 
merated as having been found in the boat he discovered. I 
tried hard to accomplish far more than I did, but not one of 
the company would on any account whatever consent to 
remain with me in that country and make a summer search 
over that island, which, from information I had gained from 
the natives, I had reason to suppose would be rewarded by 
the discovery of the whole of the manuscript records that 
had been accumulated in that great expedition, and had been 
deposited in a vault, a little way inland or eastward of Cape 
Victory. Knowing as I now do the character of the Eskimos 
in that part of the country in which King William's Land is 
situated, I cannot wonder at nor blame the Repulse Bay 
natives for their refusal to remain there as I desired. It is 
quite probable that, had we remained there as I wished, no 
one of us would ever have got out of the country alive. 
How could we expect, if we got into straitened circumstances, 
that we would receive better treatment from the Eskimos of 
that country than the 105 souls who were under the com- 
mand of the heroic Crozier some time after landing on King 
William's Land? Could I and my party with reasonable 
safety have remained to make a summer search on King 
William's Land, it is not only probable that we should have 
recovered the logs and journals of Sir John Franklin's Expe- 
dition, but have gathered up and entombed the remains of 
nearly 100 of his companions ; for they lie about the places 
where the three boats have even been found and at the large 
camping-place at the head of Terror Bay and the three other 
places that I have already mentioned. In the cove, west 
side of Point Richardson, however, nature herself has. opened 
her bosom and given sepulture to the bones of the immortal 
heroes who died there. Wherever the Eskimos have found 
the graves of Franklin's companions, they have dug them 



RELICS OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 251 

open and robbed the dead, leaving them exposed to the rav- 
ages of wild beasts. On Todd's Island, the remains of five 
men were not buried ; but, after the savages had robbed them 
of every article that could be turned to account for their use, 
their dogs were allowed to finish the disgusting work. The 
native who conducted my native party in its search over 
King William's Land is the same individual who gave Dr. Rae 
the first information about white men having died to the 
westward of where he (Dr. Rae) then was (Pelly Bay) in the 
spring of 1854. His name is In-nook-poo-zhe-jook, and he is 
a native of Neitchille, a very great traveller and very intelli- 
gent. He is, in fact, a walking history of the fate of Sir 
John Franklin's Expedition. This native I met when within 
one day's sledge journey of King William's Land — off Point 
Dryden ; and after stopping a few days among his people, 
he accompanied me to the places I visited on and about 
King William's Land. 

"I could have readily gathered quantities — a very great 
variety of relics of Sir John Franklin's expedition, for they 
are now possessed by natives all over the Arctic Regions that 
I visited or heard of — from Pond's Bay to Mackenzie River. 
As it was, I had to be satisfied with taking upon our sledges 
about 125 pounds total weight of relics from natives about 
King William's Land. Some of these I will enumerate : 
1 . A portion of one side (several planks and ribs fast together) 
of a boat, clinker-built and copper-fastened. This part of a 
boat is of the one found near the boat found by M'Clintock's 
party. 2. A small oak sledge-runner, reduced from the 
sledge on which the boat rested. 3. Part of the mast of the 
Northwest Passage ship. 4. Chronometer-box, with its num- 
ber, name of the maker, and the Queen's broad arrow engraved 
upon it. 5. Two long heavy sheets of copper, three and four 
inches wide, with countersunk holes for screw-nails. On 
these sheets, as well as on most everything else that came 



252 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

from the Northwest Passage ship, are numerous stamps of the 
Queen's broad arrow. 6. Mahogany writing-desk, elabo- 
rately finished and bound in brass. 7. Many pieces of silver- 
plate, forks, and spoons, bearing crests and initial of the 
owners. 8. Parts of watches. 9. Knives and very many 
other things which you, Mr. Grinnell, and others interested 
in the fate of the Franklin Expedition, will take a sad interest 
in inspecting on their arrival in the States. One entire skele- 
ton I have brought to the United States." 

Hall, some time after his return, placed the carefully 
preserved remains in charge of Mr. Brevoort, of Brooklyn, 
who transferred them to Admiral Inglefield, R. N., to be 
forwarded to England. Subsequently (by the plug of a tooth) 
the skeleton was identified as the remains of Lieutenant 
Veconte, of the Erebus. 

The same year that the Erebus and Terror were abandoned, 
one of them consummated the Great Northwest Passage, hav- 
ing five men aboard. The evidence of the exact number is 
circumstantial. Everything about this Northwest Passage 
ship was in complete order. It was found by the Ood-joo-lik 
natives near O'Reilly Island, latitude 68° 30' N., longitude 
99° W., early in the spring of 1849, frozen in the midst of 
a floe of only one winter's formation. 

. With the unwilling consciousness that he could accom- 
plish nothing further of research in the Frozen Regions, Cap- 
tain Hall had now to think of a return to the United States ; 
purposing there to collate and publish the result of his pro- 
tracted Arctic experience, then to make his long meditated 
voyage to the Pole, and, if possible, afterward revisit King 
William's Land. 

In regard to his plans he writes : — 

"I hope to start next spring with a vessel for Jones' Sound, 
and thence toward the North Pole as far as navigation will 
permit. The following spring, by sledge journey, I will make 



hall's return to the united states 253 

for the goal of my ambition, the North Pole. I do hope to 
be able to resume snow-hut and tent encampment very near 
the Pole by the latter part of 1870, and much nearer, indeed 
at the very Pole, in the spring following, to wit, in 1871. 
There is no use in man's saying, it cannot be done — that the 
North Pole is beyond our reach. By judicious plans, and by 
having a carefully selected company, I trust with a Heaven- 
protecting care to reach it in less time, and with far less 
mental anxieties, than I have experienced to get to King 
William's Land. I have always held to the opinion that 
whoever would lead the way there should first have years of 
experience among the wild natives of the North : and this is 
one of my reasons for submitting to searching so long for the 
lost ones of Franklin's Expedition." 

The expression of such purposes, including that of a subse- 
quent return to King William's Land, is certainly remarkable, 
as coming from one whose sledge journeys only, during the 
five years which now closed upon him, exceeded the aggregate 
of four thousand miles. A willingness "to resume snow-hut 
and tent" would seem explicable only by supposing that 
next to the lofty ideas with which his mind enthusiastically 
invested everything Arctic, was the extreme of a strange 
fascination with the uncouth life he had been leading. He 
says himself, at about this same date, that there was nothing 
in the way of food in which the natives delighted that he did 
not delight in, and that this may appear strange to some, 
but was true. He had that day "a grand good feast on the 
kind of meat he had been longing for — the deer killed last 
fall ; rotten, strong, and stinking, and for these qualities, 
excellent for Innuits and for the writer." 

Hall, accompanied by his faithful Eskimo friends, Joe, 
Hannah, and her adopted child Pun-na, returned to New 
Bedford, Massachusetts, September 26, 1869. When off the 
lighthouse of Nantucket, Massachusetts, Hannah and her 



254 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

child dropped their native dresses and put on those of a 
civilized land. 

Immediately upon his return to the States, Captain Hall 
endeavoured to arouse public interest in his long-cherished 
plan for an expedition to the Pole. By untiring personal 
efforts and the support of enthusiastic friends, he succeeded 
in engaging the attention of Congress, which authorized "An 
Expedition to the North Pole, the only one in the history of 
the nation." Fifty thousand dollars was appropriated for 
expenses and a vessel selected from the navy, which was thor- 
oughly fitted out at an expense of ninety thousand more. 

"Never was an Arctic expedition more completely fitted 
out," wrote Hall, at Godhaven, in a letter home August 22. 

The Polaris, in command of Captain Hall, with S. 0. 
Budclington as sailing-master, Dr. Emil Bessels in charge of 
the scientific work, and twenty-four others, sailed from New 
London, Connecticut, July 3, 1871. At Proven, Hans, the 
dog driver, who had served with Kane and Hayes, accom- 
panied by his wife and three children, was taken aboard. 

The Polaris encountered a great deal of ice at the en- 
trance of Wolstenholme Sound, so that the passage through 
it was effected with much difficulty. Steaming through the 
leads, she was compelled to stop for the first time off the 
western shore of Hakluyt Island on August 27. 

By August 29, she stood in latitude 82° 11' N., having 
successfully navigated Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, Hall 
Basin, and Robeson Channel, and into the Polar Sea. Unable 
to retain her position by the force of the current, she returned 
southward and went into winter quarters in 81° 38' north 
latitude at Thank God Harbor, Greenland. 

Captain Hall was very desirous of making a sledge journey 
before the winter set in, for the purpose of reconnoitring 
and selecting the best route for his great journey in the spring 
toward the Pole. 




Funeral of Captain Hall 



DEATH OF HALL 255 

By the 28th of September, the final preparations for this 
journey were complete. The dogs were selected and carefully 
fed. The Eskimos had put the sledge in order, and those 
selected to accompany Captain Hall were busy making their 
personal preparations. Not until the 10th of October was 
the start finally made, Hall being accompanied by Mr. 
Chester and the Eskimos, Joe and Hans. 

On the 24th of October, the sledge party returned, having 
reached as far north as Cape Brevoort, 82° N. They had all 
been well, during their two weeks' absence, with the exception 
of Captain Hall, who had complained that he did not feel his 
wonted vigour and endurance ; and for the last three days had 
not felt at all well. 

He had frequently expressed his surprise during the journey 
that he was not able to run before the sleds and encourage the 
dogs, as on former expeditions, but had been compelled to 
keep on the sled. Captain Hall had not been aboard half 
an hour before he was taken violently ill, and by 8 p.m. 
his entire left side was paralyzed as the result of an apo- 
plectic attack. By the evening of the 25th, he was delirious ; 
on November 7, he sank into a comatose state, breathing 
heavily ; he remained in this condition until 3 : 25 a.m. of 
the 8th, when he died. 

The sad news was broken to the ship's company, and none 
felt his loss more than the Eskimos, Joe and Hannah, who had 
been his constant companions for nearly ten years. These 
faithful friends had looked upon him as a father, and were 
now heart-broken. 

On November 11, Captain George Tyson, assistant navi- 
gator of the expedition, wrote in his diary : — 

"As we went to the grave this morning, the coffin hauled 
on a sledge, over which was spread, instead of a pall, the Amer- 
ican flag, we walked in procession. I walked on with my 
lantern a little in advance ; then came the captain and 



256 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

officers, the engineer, Dr. Bessel, and Meyers ; and then the 
crew, hauling the body by a rope attached to the sledge, 
one of the men on the right holding another lantern. Nearly 
all are dressed in skins, and, were there other eyes to see us, 
we should look like anything but a funeral cortege. The 
Eskimos followed the crew. There is a weird sort of light 
in the air, partly boreal or electric, through which the stars 
shone brightly at 11 a.m., while on our way to the grave. 

"Thus end poor Hall's ambitious projects; thus is stilled 
the effervescing enthusiasm of as ardent a nature as I ever 
knew. Wise he might not always have been, but his soul 
was in this work, and had he lived till spring, I think he would 
have gone as far as mortal man could go to accomplish his 
mission. But with his death I fear that all hopes of further 
progress will have to be abandoned." 

The death of Captain Hall proved to be fatal to the main 
object of the expedition — the attainment of the Pole ; if 
possible — or the absolute proof of its inaccessibility. The 
command of the expedition now devolved upon Captain 
Buddington. 

Several unsuccessful boat journeys to the north were fol- 
lowed by a sledge journey under Dr. Bessels, to Petermann 
Fiord. Another boat journey by Mr. Chester reached New- 
man Bay, but it was left to Sergeant F. Meyer, Signal Corps, 
U. S. Army, to reach on foot the most northerly land at that 
time ever reached by civilized man, near Repulse Harbor, 
82° 09' N. 

On the 11th of August, 1872, the ice of the straits was ob- 
served to be in motion, drifting to the south. With the hope 
of releasing the ship and returning home, Captain Budding- 
ton, after an examination of the ice, decided it would be safe 
to force the vessel through. At 4 : 30 p.m. the engines were 
started, and the Polaris left Thank God Harbor ; with great 
care the vessel was piloted between the heavy floes, changing 



"POLABIS" ADRIFT AMONG THE ICEBERGS 257 

her course frequently, but always gaining ground. By the 
18th, she stood 79° 44' 30" N. 

On the 27th, every preparation was made for a possible 
abandonment of the vessel. A house was built on the floe, 
as a retreat in case the ship should be destroyed. For 
nearly two months the Polaris drifted southward at the mercy 
of the ice-pack, and was nipped near Little Island by October 
13. 

"At 5 a.m. of the 15th (October)," writes Admiral Davis 
in his "Narrative of the North Polar Expedition," "a very 
heavy snow began to fall, and continued until 8 a.m., when 
the wind blew so hard that it was impossible to distinguish 
between the falling and drifting snow. The gale increased all 
day, driving the vessel with its surrounding ice with great 
rapidity. It commenced to blow from the S. E., but shifted 
to the S., and finally to the S. W. During its prevalence, the 
air was so completely filled with the flying snow that one 
could not see more than 20 or 30 feet. The ship had remained 
fast to the floe so long, and drifted with it so far, that no par- 
ticular anxiety was felt as to the result. 

"The captain had, however, always said that if the vessel 
passed through Smith Strait, he would not feel easy until 
the ice in which she lay, had joined the regular Baffin's Bay 
pack. 

"The 'north-water,' as it is called by whalemen, is always 
found in the northern part of Baffin Bay, and he knew that, 
were this safely crossed, the ship would float quietly down 
with the pack all winter, and be released in the spring far to 
the south. 

"The direction in which the vessel was moving was a matter 
of speculation ; the fact of her moving was admitted. The 
daily work being done, after dinner the men settled themselves 
down as usual for the enjoyments of the evening. At 6 p.m., 
it was reported that the starboard side of the vessel was free 



258 THE QBE AT WHITE NORTH 

from ice. The captain turned out the crew, and secured the 
ship by an additional hawser to the floe. This extra hawser 
was over the stern and led from a large ice-anchor, sunk in 
the floe to the main-mast. Two hawsers had served during 
the whole of the drift to hold the Polaris to the floe, one over 
the bows and one over the stern. Final preparations were 
made to abandon the vessel, nearly everything had been got 
ready on deck ; the seamen still had their clothes and personal 
effects to look after. 

"The Polaris was driven along at a very rapid rate. Many 
eager faces looked over the rail and peered into the darkness 
and the gloom, wondering what would happen next. The 
sky was threatening. The moon struggled in vain to break 
through the clouds. Two icebergs were passed in close 
proximity. Some judgment could be formed by means of 
them as to the rapidity with which the vessel was moving. 
One could scarcely help shuddering as he thought of the con- 
sequences of running into one of those gigantic ice-mountains. 
One or two persons thought the land was visible, but it was 
very uncertain. 

"At 7:30 the vessel ran among some icebergs, which 
brought up the floe to which she was attached ; at the same 
time, the pack closed up, jamming her heavily ; it was then 
the vessel secured her severest nip. It is hard to describe 
the effect of that pressure. She shook and trembled. She 
was raised up bodily and thrown over on her port side. Her 
timbers cracked with loud report, especially about the stern. 
The sides seemed to be breaking in. The cleat to which one 
of the afte ■ hawsers was attached snapped off, and the hawser 
was secured to the mast. One of the firemen, hurrying on 
deck, reported that a piece of ice had been driven through the 
sides. Escape from destruction seemed to be impossible. 
The pressure and the noise increased together. The violence 
of the night, and the grinding of the ice, added to the horror 



THE WRECK OF THE "POLARIS" 259 

of the situation. Feeling it was extremely doubtful whether 
the ship would stand, Captain Buddington ordered provisions 
and stores to be thrown upon the ice. Then followed a busy 
scene. Each one was deeply impressed with the exigency 
of the moment, and exerted himself to the utmost. Boxes, 
barrels, cans, etc., were thrown over the side with extraor- 
dinary rapidity. Men performed gigantic feats of strength, 
tossing with apparent ease, in the excitement of the moment, 
boxes which at other times they would not have essayed to 
lift. Forward, coal and more substantial provisions and 
bags of clothing were thrown overboard ; abaft, the lighter 
boxes of canned meats and tobacco, with all the musk-ox 
skins and fresh seal-meat, were transported to and fro. The 
cabin was entirely emptied, beds and bedding, clothes and 
even ornaments, were carried out. Messrs. Bryan and Meyer 
placed upon the floe the boxes containing all their note-books, 
observations, etc. This was done deliberately and after 
mutual consultation. The boxes were too large to be carried 
about, and, in the actual condition of things, the floe appeared 
to be decidedly the best place. 

"The Eskimo women and children took refuge on the 
ice, and two boats were lowered and with a scow placed on 
the floe. 

"The pressure had now become so great that the great floe 
itself had cracked in several places, and the vessel was grad- 
ually breaking its edge and bearing down the pieces. Many 
articles had been thrown in a heap near the ship, and it was 
found that some of the lower things in the pile were dropping 
through between the vessel and the ice. It was also seen that 
should the ship be cut through and sink, many, if not all these 
articles, would sink with her. A call was therefore made for 
these men to carry these articles to a safer place on the floe. 
There was no special designation for that duty ; but Captain 
Tyson, taking several persons with him, at once entered on it. 



260 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

After laboring about one hour and a half, the decks were 
cleared and the men on board ship had finished their work. 
At 9 : 30 p.m., by some change in the ice, the starboard side 
was again clear ; the vessel was free from pressure, and the 
cracks in the floe began to open. 

"Unfortunately, two of these cracks ran through the places 
where the stern anchors had been planted, breaking their 
hold. The wind, still strong, now drove the vessel from the 
floe, and, the anchors dragging under the strain, she swung 
round to the forward hawser. The latter slipped, and the 
vessel was carried rapidly away from the ice. The night was 
black and stormy, and in a few moments the floe and its pre- 
cious freight could no longer be seen through the drifting snow. 
Before the separation, it had been noticed that the floe was 
much broken on its edge ; that the provisions and stores were 
separated from each other by rapidly widening cracks ; that 
the men also were on different pieces of ice ; that active 
efforts were being made to launch boats in order to bring the 
scattered people together. Several men were seen rushing 
toward the ship as she was leaving, but they failed to reach 
her. The voice of the steward, John Herron, was heard call- 
ing out, ' Good-by, Polaris ! ' 

" Nineteen persons were thus separated from the ship, in- 
cluding eight Eskimos and the baby of Hans and Hannah 
— fourteen men remained on board — '-This remnant of a 
crew, so suddenly reduced, gazed on each other for a few mo- 
ments in silence — when the order was given to station the 
lookouts ; the duties of the ship were resumed.' 

"A few moments after the separation, a fireman who was 
below getting up steam reported that the vessel was leaking 
badly. Upon examination it was found that the water was 
pouring in so rapidly that it was feared that the fires would 
be put out before steam could be raised to work the pumps. 

" All hands were immediately ordered to the large deck 



THE SEPABATION OF THE CREW 261 

pumps, and a few pails of hot water started the four pumps. 
The captain called out, 'Work for your lives, boys,' and the 
crew set to work with a will. In spite of their utmost efforts, 
the leak still gained upon them. The engineers and firemen 
were urged to their utmost. Everything of a combustible 
character, including seal blubber, was thrown upon the fire, 
and at the end of an hour and ten minutes of the severest 
labor, the steam pumps were at last in working order. Nor was 
this a moment too soon, for at the moment the pumps began 
to work, the water was lapping over the floor of the fire-room." 

Captain Buddington awaited a favourable opportunity to 
beach the Polaris, and this was accomplished a few days later 
near Life-Boat Cove, where a comfortable house was built 
of the vessel for the winter. 

Some Eskimos rendered them considerable assistance, and 
received suitable gifts in return. 

"We have taken stock of our ammunition," writes Cap- 
tain Buddington in his journal, "and find that we can avail 
ourselves of about eight pounds of powder, which some of the 
men had stored away in their chests and powder-flasks. 
This is all we have on board, the powder-can having been also 
put off on the ice during the fearful night of the 15th ; also all 
our Sharp's cartridges, except some open (loose) ones which 
were found amongst the men's things. One box of musket- 
cartridges we have, and plenty of shot and lead ; also several 
shot guns. In fact, we are not altogether as bad off as we first 
supposed, and the only thing that we are short of is clothing. 
This, if we cannot get any game, we may feel considerably 
before spring comes on." 

The Eskimos from Etah made frequent visits, but could give 
them no information of the lost members of the party. The 
general opinion with Captain Buddington and his men was 
that Tyson had been able to effect a landing with his men, 
somewhere to the south, and that he would probably use his 



262 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

dogs, sleds, and boats to travel up the coast and rejoin the 
main party. 

In the spring of 1873 two boats were carefully constructed 
from the material of the Polaris, and the party made prepara- 
tions to reach Upernavik. On June 3, the boats, having 
been freighted and manned, got under way, and after an excit- 
ing journey of two hundred miles were picked up near Cape 
York by the Scotch whaler Ravenscraig. 

One of the boats used on this retreat was brought back to 
civilization and presented to the Smithsonian Institution at 
Washington. It was exhibited at the International Exhi- 
bition, Philadelphia, May 10, 1876, by the side of Kane's boat 
Faith, and formed part of the Arctic Collection furnished for 
the Centennial by the United States Naval Observatory. 

To return to the nineteen souls adrift on the ice-floe ; of 
the moment of parting from the Polaris, Captain Tyson 
writes : — 

"The ice exploded and broke in many places, and the ship 

broke away in the darkness, and we lost sight of her in a 

moment. 

"Gone! 

But an ice-bound horror 

Seemed to cling to air. 

"It was snowing at the time also ; it was a terrible night. 
On the 15th of October it may be said that the Arctic night 
commences ; but in addition to this the wind was blowing 
strong from the south-east ; it was snowing and drifting, and 
was fearfully dark ; and the wind was exceedingly heavy, 
and so bad was the snow and sleet that one could not even look 
to the windward. We did not know who was on the ice or 
who was on the ship ; but I knew some of the children were 
on the ice, because almost the last thing I had pulled away 
from the crushing heel of the ship were some musk-ox skins ; 
they were lying across a wide crack in the ice, and as I pulled 



THE HARDSHIP OF THE CREW 263 

them toward me to save them, I saw that there were two or 
three of Hans' children rolled up in one of the skins ; a slight 
motion of the ice, and in a moment more they would either 
have been in the water and drowned in the darkness, or 
crushed between the ice. 

"It was nearly ten o'clock when the ship broke away, and 
we had been at work since six ; the time seemed long, for 
we were working all the time. Hannah was working, but I 
did not see Joe or Hans. We worked till we could scarcely 
stand. They were throwing things constantly over to us 
till the vessel parted. 

"Some of the men were on small pieces of ice. I took the 
' little donkey ' — a small scow — and went for them ; but 
the scow was almost instantly swamped ; then I shoved off 
one of the whale-boats, and took off what men I could see, 
and some of the men took the other boat and helped their 
companions, so that we were all on firm ice at last. 

"We did not dare to move about much after that, for we 
could not see the size of the ice we were on, on account of the 
storm and darkness. All the rest but myself, the men, women 
and children, sought what shelter they could from the storm 
by wrapping themselves in the musk-ox skins, and so laid down 
to rest. I alone walked the floe all night." 

The following morning an inventory was taken of the 
stores on the floe, and they were found to be : fourteen cans of 
pemmican, eleven and a half bags of bread, one can of dried 
apples, and fourteen hams. " If the ship did not come for us," 
writes Tyson, "we might have to support ourselves all winter, 
or die of starvation. Fortunately, we -had "the boats." 

Captain Tyson made an effort to reach Little Island, in 
order to secure the assistance of the Eskimos living in the 
neighbourhood in procuring food and shelter for his party 
during the winter. This he was unable to accomplish, and 
soon after the Polaris was seen rounding a point. Signals 



264 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

were made by hoisting the colours and showing an India-rubber 
cloth, but neither the signals nor the men were seen by the 
Polaris. 

Another futile attempt was made to attract the attention 
of those on the ship, and Captain Tyson endeavoured to launch 
the boats and reach her, but without success. Gales now 
forced the floe out of sight of the ship, and the forlorn men set 
to work to make the best of a desperate situation. 

By late November, the effects of exposure and want of 
food began to show themselves ; some of the men trembled 
when they tried to walk ; the children often cried with hunger, 
although all was given to them that could possibly be spared. 
The seals brought in were received with gratitude ; the in- 
valuable success of Joe and Hans was fully appreciated ; 
without them, the chances of life would have been very much 
diminished. So keen had the appetites of the party become 
that the seal-meat was eaten uncooked with the skin and 
hair on. 

December 25, Captain Tyson records : — 

"Our Christmas dinner was gorgeous. We had each a 
small piece of frozen ham, two whole biscuits of hard bread, 
a few mouthfuls of dried apples, and also a few swallows of 
seal's blood ! The last of the ham, the last of the apples, 
and the last of our present supply of seal's blood ! So ends 
our Christmas feast !" 

"New Year's dinner. I have dined to-day on about two 
feet of frozen entrails and a little blubber ; and I only wish 
we had plenty even of that, but we have not." 

On January 23, 1873, Captain Tyson makes the following 
observation : — 

"I was thinking the other evening how strange it would 
sound to hear a good hearty laugh; but I think there never was 
a party so destitute of every element of merriment as this. I 
cannot remember ever having seen a smile on the countenance 



THE HARDSHIP OF THE CREW 265 

of any one on this floe, except when Herron came out of his 
hut and saw the sun shining for the first time." 

The months of February and March passed dismally enough, 
with varying fortune with the hunters. Toward the end of 
March, the condition of the party was growing rapidly worse. 
On March 3, Joe shot a monster oogjook — a large kind of 
seal. 

It was, indeed, a great deliverance to those who had 
been reduced to one meal of a few ounces a day. 

" Hannah had but two small pieces of blubber left," con- 
tinues Captain Tyson, "enough for the lamp for two days; 
the men had but little, and Hans had only enough for one day 
— and now, just on the verge of absolute destitution, comes 
along this monstrous oogjook, the only one of the seal species 
seen to-day ; and the fellow, I have no doubt, weighs six or 
seven hundred pounds, and will furnish, I should think, thirty 
gallons of oil. Truly we are rich indeed !" 

"April 1st. We have been the 'fools of fortune' now for 
five months and a half." 

On this day it was found necessary to abandon the floe, 
which had now become wasted to such an extent that it was 
no longer safe ; at 8 a.m., therefore, the party took to 
their boat. This boat, intended to carry six or eight men, was 
crowded with twelve men, two women, and five children, with 
the tent and skins and some provisions. There was so little 
room that it was difficult to handle the oars and yoke-ropes. 
After making fifteen or twenty miles to the south and west in 
the pack, a landing was effected, the tent pitched with the in- 
tention of remaining all night. For the next twenty-eight 
days the party advanced to the south by boat, camping upon 
the ice at night, undergoing the most perilous hardships from 
the upheavals of the ice, through gales and storms. 

At 4 : 30 p.m. of April 28, a steamer hove in sight, right 
ahead, and at one time appeared to be bearing down upon the 



266 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

boat. The American colours were hoisted, and the boat pulled 
for her. She was recognized as a sealer returning southwest, 
and apparently working through the ice. For a few moments 
the hearts of the shipwrecked party were thrilled with joy, 
but the steamer failed to see them, and night coming on, she 
soon disappeared. That night the boat was again hauled 
upon the ice and fires lighted to attract the attention of passing 
vessels. 

At daylight, a steamer was seen eight miles off. The 
boat was launched and headed for the ship, — but after two 
hours' pulling, she was so beset by ice that she could make 
no headway. The party landed on a small piece of ice, 
hoisted their colours, mounted the highest point of the floe, col- 
lected all the rifles and pistols, and fired them together to at- 
tract attention. After three rounds, the steamer fired three 
shots, and, changing her course, headed toward the floe. 
The party gave a shout of delight, but soon after the steamer 
again changed her course, and steamed away. 

" Again in the morning of the 30th, when the fog opened, 
a steamer was seen close to the floe ; the guns were fired, the 
colors were set on the boat's mast, and loud shouts were 
uttered. Hans shoved off in his kayak, of his own accord, 
to intercept her, if possible ; the morning was foggy, but the 
steamer's head soon turned towards them and in a few 
moments, she was alongside of the floe." 

The three cheers given by the shipwrecked people were 
returned by a hundred men on deck and aloft. The vessel 
proved to be the barkentine Tigress, sealer, Captain 
Bartlett, of Conception Bay, Newfoundland. Her small seal 
boats were very soon in the water ; but the shipwrecked 
party did not wait for them. They threw everything out of 
their own boat, launched her, and in a few moments were on 
board the Tigress, where they became objects of extreme 
curiosity, as well as of the most devoted attention. When the 



THE RESCUE AND RETURN TO UNITED STATES 267 

time during which they had been on the ice was mentioned, 
they were regarded with astonishment, and warmly congratu- 
lated upon their miraculous escape. They were picked up 
in latitude 53° 35' N., off Grady Harbor, Labrador. 

Thus ended one of the most remarkable escapes on record. 
For five months the little band of shipwrecked men and women 
had drifted at the mercy of the Arctic ice-pack, a distance of 
1300 miles. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Captain Thomas Long. — Discovery of Wrangell Land. — Captain 
Carlsen and Captain Palliser sail across the Sea of Kara. — 
Captain Johannsen circumnavigates Nova Zembla. — First Ger- 
man expedition. — Second German expedition. — Germania, Cap- 
tain Koldewey commanding. — Hansa, Captain Hegemann. — De- 
parture from Bremen. — Crossing the Arctic Circle. — Island of 
Jan Mayen. — The ice line. — Separation from the Hansa. — 
Adrift on the ice-floe. — Winter. — Final rescue. — Germania 
beset. — Winter. — Sledging parties. — Lieutenant Payer's re- 
markable journey. — 77° 1' north latitude. — Return of the Ger- 



Other important discoveries followed the journeys of 
Dr. Hayes and Captain Hall, including that of Captain 
Thomas Long, an American whaler, who in 1867 discovered 
"a mountainous country of considerable extent in the Polar 
Ocean, beyond Behring Strait," supposed at that time to 
be the western prolongation of Plover Island. 

The same year Captain Carlsen and Captain Palliser 
sailed across the generally inaccessible Sea of Kara to the 
mouths of the Obi, — and Captain Johannsen succeeded 
in circumnavigating the whole archipelago of Nova Zembla. 
In 1868 the first German north polar expedition was fitted 
out through the exertions of the scientist Dr. A. Peterman 
of Gotha. The yacht Greenland, commanded by Captain 
Koldewey, sailed to Spitzbergen, reaching 84° 05' N. off the 
north coast, and, passing down Henlopen Strait, sighted Wiche 
Land, returning home the fall of the same year. 

In 1869 and 1870, the Germans made a more successful 
attempt to enter the lists of Arctic discovery by exploring a 

268 



CAPTAIN THOMAS LONG 269 

considerable part of the previously unvisited coast of East 
Greenland. The ship Germania was chosen for this purpose, 
being expressly adapted for ice navigation ; the Hansa of 
nearly the same size was to accompany her. Captain Karl 
Koldewey and Captain Fr. Hegemann were first and second in 
command respectively. 

"The departure of the expedition from Bremerhaven," 
writes Captain Koldewey, "took place on the 15th of June, 
1869, in the presence of his Majesty, the King of Prussia, 
whose warm interest in this great national undertaking showed 
itself in this solemn hour in a manner never to be forgotten. 
Amongst the numerous gentlemen in attendance on his Maj- 
esty were his Royal Highness, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg 
Schwerin, Count Bismarck, the Minister of War and Marine, 
von Roon, General von Moltke, and Vice-Admiral Jackman. 
The ships lay at the entrance of the new harbour just outside the 
sluice. The king, having been introduced to the scientific gentle- 
men and the commander of the expedition, and having greeted 
them with a hearty shake of the hand, the President of the 
Bremen Committee, Herr A. G. Mosle, requested his Majesty's 
permission to speak a few parting words ; and in an earnest 
and impressive manner the speaker referred to the greatness 
and importance of the object, the self-denial, difficulties, and 
dangers which lay before them, but which they all willingly 
braved for the honour of their native land, for the honour of 
the German navy, and of German science." 

July 1 found the expedition in 61° north latitude, 
passing the entrance between Norway and the Shetland 
Isles. "With that the German Ocean was left behind and the 
open sea reached, which already made itself felt by the peculiar 
'Atlantic swell.'" 

On the 5th of July, at fifty minutes past eleven, the Ger- 
mania passed the Arctic Circle, nearly under the meridian of 
Greenwich. 



270 TEE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

"A violent wind was blowing," writes Captain Koldewey, 
"and with a speed of nine knots we entered the Arctic Ocean, 
which was to be our quarters for a whole year. The Hansa 
was some miles in advance of us, and was the first to unfurl 
the North German flag ; at the same time firing one gun. We 
followed. Conformably to the custom, as on crossing the 
equator, Neptune came on board to welcome us, and wish us 
success on our voyage ; of course not without all those who 
had not yet crossed the Arctic Circle having to undergo the 
rather rough shaving and christening customary on such 
occasions. The ceremony closed (as is usual on such occasions) 
with a good glass of wine, to wash away the evil effects of the 
cold water." 

On board the Hansa the proceeding was carried out much 
more scrupulously. Describing the frolic, Dr. Laube writes 
thus : — 

"We entered into the spirit of the fun willingly, knowing 
that our sailors were decent fellows, and would not carry things 
too far, even had we not entered on the ship's books with 
them in Breman, and become seamen. Our carpenter went 
about the whole day with a sly, laughing face, and towards 
evening had quite lost his usual chattiness. We ourselves 
kept in the cabin, so as not to witness the preparations. At 
midnight we were called on deck. A gun was fired, and as its 
thunder died away, we heard the well-known cry, ' Ship ahoy ! ' 
Three wonderful figures climbed over the bowsprit ; Neptune 
first, in an Eskimo's dress, with a great white cotton beard, 
a seven-pronged dolphin harpoon for a trident in one hand, 
and a speaking-trumpet in the other. A tarpaulin was spread 
on the quarter-deck, and a stool placed upon it. It looked 
like a judge's bench. Here each of us was seated with eyes 
bound, while the masked followers of the northern Ruler 
went through the customary proceedings. I was soaped and 
shaved ; god Neptune was most favorable to me ; he knows 



SECOND GERMAN EXPEDITION 271 

what good cigars are, and has great respect for those to whom 
they belong. Then came the christening, which in this case 
was not applied to the head (as is usual) but to the throat and 
stomach. Neptune put some questions to me through his 
speaking-trumpet, desiring me to answer. I saw his object, 
answered with a short 'Yes' and then closed my lips. The 
mischievous waterfall rattled over me, causing universal 
merriment. They then took the bandage from my eyes, 
that I might see my handsome face in the glass ; but instead of 
a looking glass, it was the combing of the wooden hatchway, 
which with great gravity was held before my face by the bar- 
ber's assistant. I was now absolved, and could laugh with 
the others, whilst seeing my comrades obliged to go through 
the same course one after the other." 

By the 9th of July, the expedition came in sight of the 
island of Jan Mayen. The midnight hours had now become 
perceptibly lighter ; even in the cabin a lamp was no longer 
needed, and at twelve o'clock at night it was possible to read 
and write without difficulty. Fog and snow had already 
begun their rule of terror, and Captain Koldewey records three 
hundred and sixty-eight hours of fog from the 10th of July 
to the 1st of August. 

The island of Jan Mayen lies in the middle of the wide, 
deep sea between Norway and Greenland, Iceland and Spitz- 
bergen ; and is distant about sixty geographical miles from 
the coast of Greenland. It was discovered and named after 
a Dutchman who visited it in the year 1611. It is nine miles 
in length and one mile in breadth, rocky and mountainous, 
with only two spots of flat beach suitable for landing-places. 
The northeast part rises to a height of six thousand eight 
hundred sixty-three feet, in the lofty Beerenberg, which has a 
large crater. In the year 1732, Burgomaster Anderson, of 
Hamburg, reported a decided eruption from a small side 
crater, and in 1818, Scoresby and another captain saw great 



272 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

pillars of smoke rising from the same place. Of this wonderful 
isolated, snow-covered peak, Lord Dufferin, in "Letters from 
High Latitudes," wrote, — 

"My delight was of an anchorite catching a glimpse of the 
seventh heaven." 

Jan Mayen lies so near the edge of the ice-fields, that 
from 1612 to 1640 it afforded the English and Dutch whale- 
fishers a comfortable station for their train-oil preparation. 
One ship is reported to have brought home one hundred and 
ninety-six thousand gallons of oil in a single year. 

The ice line was reached July 15. "After a foggy day, a 
light southerly breeze got up, the sails filled, the ship answered 
the helm once more, and we moved in a north-westerly course 
between small floes and brashes. A practised ear might now 
notice a peculiar distant roar, which seemed to come nearer 
by degrees. It was the sea singing against the still hidden 
ice. 

"Nearer and nearer comes the rushing noise. Every man 
is on deck ; when, as with the touch of a magic wand, the mist 
divides, and a few hundred yards before us lies the ice, in long 
lines like a deep indented rocky coast, with walls glittering 
blue in the sun, and the foaming of the waves mounting high, 
with the top covered with blinding white snow. The eyes of 
all rested with amazement on this grand panorama ; it was a 
glorious but serious moment, stirred as we were by new 
thoughts and feelings, by hopes and doubts, by bold and far- 
reaching expectations." 

Up to this time the Germania and Hansa had stood well 
together with occasional separation in the fogs, and on the 
18th of July the officers of the two ships exchanged hospital- 
ities. The next day, through a fatal misunderstanding of 
signals, the Hansa separated from the Germania, and they 
never met again. 

On the 28th of July, the Hansa stood in 72° 56' north lati- 




Jan Mayen Island 



ADRIFT ON THE ICE FLOE 273 

tude and 16° 54' west latitude. The dark rock coast of East 
Greenland was visible for the first time from Cape Broer Ruys 
to Cape James. 

By sailing, towing, and warping, the Hansa made slow 
progress through the ice. The captain and two officers and 
two sailors made an attempt to land on August 24, but were 
obliged to return to the ship without having accomplished 
their mission. On the 25th of August the Hansa reached 
within thirty-five nautical miles of Sabine Island. The ship 
was continually subjected to dangerous ice pressure, and often 
forced southward by the drifting ice-fields. By the 6th of 
September, she lay between two promontories of a large ice- 
field, which eventually proved a raft of deliverance. By the 
14th of September, she was completely frozen up in 73° 25.7' 
north latitude and 18° 39.5' west latitude. At the mercy of 
the drifting currents, the Hansa stood in imminent peril of 
total destruction. Between October 5 and 14 the drift had 
carried the ship seventy-two nautical miles to the south- 
southwest. The nights were cold, sometimes 4° F. below 
zero. The only sign of animal life to be seen were ravens, 
which were doubtless wintering on the coast ; once a gull and 
a falcon made the ship a visit. A severe storm from the 
north-northwest on the 19th brought disastrous pressure upon 
the Hansa. 

"Shortly before one o'clock, the deck seams sprang, but 
still she seemed tight. Mighty blocks of ice pushed them- 
selves under the bow, and, although they were crushed by it, 
they forced the ship up no less than .seventeen feet. The 
rising of the ship was an extraordinary and awful, yet splendid 
spectacle, of which the whole crew were witnesses from the 
ice." 

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Captain Hegemann 
at once ordered clothing, nautical instruments, and stores 
to be removed from the ship to a safe distance. The pumps 



274 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

were put in action to free her from water, but to the horror 
of all, it was discovered before many hours that the Hansa 
was doomed. 

" Calmly, though much moved, we faced this hard fact." 

There was not a minute's time to lose ; while one-half 
of the men stayed by the pumps, the others were busily en- 
gaged bringing the most necessary articles from the vessel 
to the floe. Gradually the ship filled with water, and by eight 
in the morning the men who were busy in the fore-peak get- 
ting out firewood came with anxious faces to say that the 
wood was already floating below. At three o'clock the water 
in the cabin had reached the table, and all movable articles 
were floating. 

" Round about the ship lay a chaotic mass of heterogeneous 
articles, and groups of feeble rats struggling with death, and 
trembling with cold." 

On the morning of the 21st, a last trip was made to the 
Hansa for fuel and her masts sacrificed to the stress of need. 
She was then cut away from the ice that she might not en- 
danger the lives of those on the floe when she sank. 

The shipwrecked crew, in the miserable shelter of the coal 
house, settled themselves to meet the exigencies of their 
frightful position. In the far distance Halloway Bay and 
Glasgow Island were distinctly visible, but nowhere a way 
through the icy labyrinth. Slowly, steadily, the ice-field 
drifted to the south. By November 3 the Liverpool coast had 
been passed, and the picturesque formation of the coast 
surrounding Scoresby Sound was distinctly visible. 

The health of the party remained good; a monotonous 
routine of daily duties occupied officers and men. The cap- 
ture of a walrus and bear gave a welcome supply of fresh meat. 
Christmas was cheerfully celebrated by these shipwrecked 
mariners in the coal-hut on their Greenland floe. A tree 
artistically manufactured of pine wood and birch broom 



WINTER 275 

was gayly decorated with paper rings and candles, — nor were 
gifts wanting, and finally, wrote Dr. Laube in his day-book : — 

"In quiet devotion the festival passed by; the thoughts 
which passed through our minds (they were much alike with 
all) I will not put down. If this should be the last Christmas 
we were to see, it was at least bright enough. If, however, 
we were destined for a happy return home, the next will be 
a brighter one ; may God grant it !" 

The months of January and February were fraught with 
many anxious hours, owing to the numerous and severe storms 
which threatened destruction to the floe. The horrors of 
such an experience are vividly described as follows : — 

On the 11th of January, "At six in the morning, Hilde- 
brandt, who happened to have the watch, burst in with the 
alarm, 'All hands turn out.' An indescribable tumult was 
heard without. With furs and knapsacks all rushed out. 
But the outer entrance was snowed up ; so to gain the outside 
quickly, we broke through the snow-roof of the front hall. 
The tumult of the elements which met us there was beyond 
anything we had already experienced. Scarcely able to leave 
the spot, we stood huddled together for protection from the 
bad weather. Suddenly we heard, 'Water on the floe close 
by.' The floe surrounding us split up ; a heavy sea arose. 
Our field began to break on all sides. On the spot between 
our house and the piled-up store of wood which was about 
twenty-five paces distant, there suddenly opened a huge gap. 
Washed by the powerful waves, it seemed as if the piece 
just broken off was about to fall upon us ; and at the same 
time we felt the rising and falling of our now greatly reduced 
floe. All seemed lost. From our split-up ice-field all the 
firewood was drifting into the raging sea. And in like man- 
ner we had nearly lost our boat Bismarck; even the whale- 
boat was obliged to be brought for safety into the middle of 
the floe. The large boat, being too heavy to handle, we were 



276 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

obliged to give up entirely. All this in a temperature of 
— 9^°, and a heavy storm, was an arduous piece of work. 
The community were divided into two parts. We bade each 
other good-by with a farewell shake of the hands, for the 
next moment we might go down. Deep despondency had 
taken hold of our scientific friends ; the crew were still and 
quiet. Thus we stood or cowered by our boats the whole 
day, the fine pricking snow penetrating through the clothes 
to the skin. It was a miracle that just that part of the floe 
on which we stood should from its soundness keep together. 
Our floe, now only 150 feet in diameter, was the 35 to 40 feet 
nucleus of the formerly extensive field to which we had en- 
trusted our preservation. Towards evening the masses of 
ice became closely packed again. At the same time the heavy 
sea had subsided and immediate danger seemed past. Re- 
lieved, we partook of something in the house and lay down, 
after setting a good watch. It was past midnight, when we 
were roused from our sleep by the cry of terror ; the voice of 
the sailor on watch, exclaiming, 'Turn out, we are drifting 
on to a high iceberg ! ' All rushed to the entrance ; dressed 
as we always were ; we had no time to run through the long 
snow passage, but burst open the roof, climbed on to the door 
and so out. What a sight ! Close upon us, as if hanging 
over our heads, towered a huge mass of ice, of giant propor- 
tions. 'It is past,' said the captain. Was it really an ice- 
berg, or the mirage of one, or the high coast ? We could not 
decide the question. Owing to the swiftness of the drift, 
the ghastly object had disappeared the next moment." 

Again on the evening of the 14th a frightful storm raged, 
which set the ice once more in motion. 

"In the immediate neighbourhood of the house, our floe 
burst ; and the broken ice flew high around us. It was high 
time to bring the boat Bismarck and the whale-boat more into 
the middle. This we did ; but they were far too heavily 



WINTER 277 

laden to bring further. On this account, furs, sacks of bread, 
and clothing were taken out and packed on two sledges, which 
were, however, soon completely snowed up. All our labour 
was rendered heavier by the storm, which made it almost 
impossible to breathe. About eleven, we experienced a 
sudden fissure which threatened to tear our house asunder ; 
with a thundering noise an event took place, the consequences 
of which, in the first moments, deranged all calculations. 
God only knows how it happened that, in our flight into the 
open, none came to harm. But there in the most fearful 
weather we all stood roofless on the ice, waiting for daylight, 
which was still ten hours off. The boat King William 
lay on the edge of the floe, and might have floated away at 
any moment. Fortunately the fissure did not get larger. 
As it was somewhat quieter at midnight, most of the men 
crept into the Captain's boat, when the thickest sail we had 
was drawn over them ; some took refuge in the house. But 
there, as the door had fallen in, they entered by the skylight, 
and in the hurry broke the panes of glass, so that it was soon 
full of snow. This night was the most dreadful one of our 
adventurous voyage on the floe." 

For five nights the men slept in the boats; the days were 
employed in raising their settlement from its ruins. A 
wooden kitchen was built and a dwelling house, exactly like 
the one destroyed, but half as large (14 feet long by 10 broad 
and 1| high in the middle). 

In spite of such frightful experiences, the men kept cheerful, 
undaunted, and exalted ; in fact, the cook kept a right seaman- 
like humour, having exclaimed while repairing the coffee 
kettle, during the frightful pressure of the ice which destroyed 
the floe, "if the floe would only hold together until he had 
finished his kettle ! he wished so to make the evening tea in 
it, so that, before our departure., we might have something 
warm." 



278 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

February and March found them helplessly drifting to the 
southward, and by Easter (17th of April) they lay floating 
backwards and forwards in the Bay of Unbarbik. Linnets 
and snow-buntings soon made their appearance, so fearless 
and confiding that, "Some of them," so says Bade's day-book, 
"will almost perch upon our noses, and in five minutes al- 
lowed themselves to be caught three times." 

On the 7th of May the agreeable sight of open water in 
the direction of land cheered both officers and men. The 
captain now decided that an attempt would be made to leave 
the floe and reach the coast. The little community, divided 
amid three boats, bade farewell to the ice-floe which had been 
their home for two hundred days. 

During several days of bad weather, small progress was 
made. The men suffered considerably from exhaustion, 
snow-blindness, and want of proper shelter and food — the 
latter problem was occasioning considerable concern, and 
already the men were "almost looking their eyes out after a 
seal." There was but six weeks' short provisions on hand 
and a long distance to travel over a barren and uninhabited 
coast before the settlement could be reached. 

The ice remaining unnavigable, it was decided to make the 
island of Illuidlek, dragging the heavy boat-loads over the 
all but impassable ice hummocks. 

By the 24th of May, Mr. Hildebrandt and the sailors 
Philipp and Paul, set foot on firm ground. Their encourag- 
ing report cheered the others to similar exertions, but the 
progress was slow and exhausting. Not until the 4th of June 
were the entire party landed at Illuidlek. The island proved 
of rocky formation, naked, and bare of vegetation. 

"Everywhere we find nothing," writes one of the party, 
"but bare barren cliffs, the higher the wilder, sparingly clothed 
with moss and stunted willows. But no trace of human in- 
habitants." 



"GERMANIA" BESET 279 

Two days later (June 6) they started once more; their 
object was to make for Friedricksthal, the nearest colony on 
the southwest coast of Greenland. On June 13, 1870, after 
passing through the Straits of Torsudatik, and skirting the 
coast, the longed-for bay was reached. "A few hundred 
steps from the shore on the green ground, stood a rather 
spacious red house, topped by a small tower. It was the mis- 
sion house. Groups of natives from the shore speedily 
welcomed the wanderers and the cheerful greeting of the 
Moravian missionaries : ' That is the German flag ! They 
are our people ! Welcome, welcome to Greenland ! ' fell like 
music in their ears. After partaking of the generous hospital- 
ity extended by the missionaries, and taking a much-needed 
rest, they pushed on in the hopes of reaching the settlement 
of Julianeshaab, distant some eighty miles, where the Danish 
Constance was expected at any moment, and would be their 
only means of reaching Europe that year." 

By the 25th of July, the officers and crew of the Hansa 
weighed anchor for the homeward voyage. By the 31st of 
July they were on the high sea in Davis Strait. "No more 
ice ! Set southwards, and — O heavenly music of the word 
— homewards !" 

It will be remembered that on July 20, 1869, the two ships 
had parted company, the Germania proceeding on her course 
with officers and crew, under the impression that the Hansa 
would rejoin her within a short time. When this did not 
take place, much concern was felt for her fate. By the 27th 
of July, the Germania stood 73° 7' north latitude, and 16° 4' 
west longitude. Two days later an interesting note is made 
of the peculiar condition of the atmosphere. 

"The weather was clear and still, and we had a good oppor- 
tunity of observing the refraction of light and the mirage. 
The whole atmosphere was quivering with a kind of wavy 
motion, so that the exact outline of the object was often so 



280 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

distorted as to be unrecognizable. It may be imagined that 
pictures of things far beyond our range of sight could thus be 
seen. Scoresby relates, and it afterwards proved true, that 
he once saw and recognized his father's ship perfectly in the 
mirage when it was thirty miles distant. The effects of this 
phenomenon on the distant ice was wonderful ; sometimes 
it appeared like a mighty wall, and sometimes like a town 
rich in towers and castles." 

Carefully pushing a way between the floes, the Germania 
stood within thirty miles of Sabine Island by August 4. Sail- 
ing straight for Griper Roads, she at last anchored in a small 
bay which was afterward her winter harbour. 

On the 5th of August, anchor was dropped, and the German 
flag hoisted on Greenland soil, amid loud cheers. Sabine 
Island forms a part of the group known as Pendulum Islands, 
discovered by Clavering in 1823. Sabine's observatory 
was carefully searched for, but no indications of its remains 
were found. Traces of Eskimo summer huts were discovered, 
however, giving evidence of long habitation. 

On the 15th of August, the Germania sailed as far as 75° 
31' north latitude, some distance beyond Shannon Island, 
the extreme point discovered by Clavering and Sabine. At 
Shannon Island, First Lieutenant Payer, accompanied by 
seven companions, and provisioned for six days, made a try 
of investigation. Lieutenant Payer's description of the pla- 
teau to the southwest of Shannon is interesting. Tell-platte, 
as it is called, is six hundred and seventy feet above the sea. 
"Here on the broad mountain top were masses of rubbish of 
gneiss formation resembling those on Pendulum Island. We 
were also astonished by the sight of a large flat promontory 
(south of Haystack) which is not distinctly marked on Cov- 
ering's charts. The view of the front coast of Greenland was 
full of majestic beauty." 

Having taken up winter quarters at Sabine Island, Septem- 



WINTER 281 

ber 13, Captain Koldewey and Lieutenant Payer undertook 
a sledge journey to Flegely Fiord. They returned to the ship 
September 21, after an absence of seven days, having travelled 
133-2- miles. The long winter passed in the usual monotonous 
fashion, and in preparation for the spring sledge journeys. A 
thrilling incident, however, occurred early in March, which is 
almost unprecedented in Arctic adventure. 

"We were sitting," writes Lieutenant Payer, "fortunately 
silent in the cabin, when Koldewey suddenly heard a faint cry 
for help. We all hurriedly tumbled up the companion-ladder 
to the deck, when an exclamation from Borgen, 'A bear is 
carrying me off ! ' struck painfully on our ears. It was dark ; 
we could scarcely see anything, but we made directly for the 
quarter whence the cry proceeded, armed with poles, weapons, 
etc., over hummocks and drifts, when an alarm-shot, which 
we fired in the air, seemed to make some little impression, as 
the bear dropped his prey, and ran forward a few paces. He 
turned again, however, dragging his victim over the broken 
shore-ice, close to a field which stretched in a southerly direc- 
tion. All depended upon our coming up with him before he 
should reach this field, as he would carry his prey over the 
open plain with the speed of a horse, and thus escape. We 
succeeded. The bear turned upon us for a moment, and then, 
scared by our continuous fire, let fall his prey. We lifted 
our poor comrade up on to the ice, to bear him to his cabin, — ■ 
a task which was rendered somewhat difficult by the slippery 
and uneven surface of the ice. But after we had gone a little 
way, Borgen implored us to make as much haste as possible. 
On procuring a light, the coldest nature would have been 
shocked at the spectacle which poor Borgen presented. The 
bear had torn his scalp in several places, and he had received 
injuries in other parts of his body. His clothes and hair were 
saturated with blood. We improvised a couch for him in the 
rear of our cabin, as his own was not large enough. The first 



282 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

operation was performed upon him on the cabin table. And 
here we may briefly notice the singular fact that, although he 
had been carried more than 100 paces with his skull almost 
laid bare, at a temperature of — 13° Fahrenheit, his scalp healed 
so perfectly that not a single portion was missing." 

Borgen describes the sudden attack of the bear as follows : 
"About a quarter before nine p.m. I had gone out to observe 
the occultation of a star, which was to take place about that 
time, and also to take the meteorological readings. As I 
was in the act of getting on shore, Captain Koldewey came 
on to the ice. We spoke for a few moments, when I went on 
shore, while he returned to the cabin. On my return from 
the observatory, about fifty steps from the vessel, I heard 
a rustling noise to the left, and became aware of the proximity 
of a bear. There was no time to think, or use my gun. The 
grip was so sudden and rapid, that I am unable to say how it 
was done ; whether the bear rose and struck me down with 
his fore-paws, or whether he ran me down. But from the 
character of the injuries I have received (contusions and a 
deep cut on the left ear), I conclude that the former must 
have been the case. The next thing I felt was the tearing of 
my scalp, which was only protected by a skull cap. This is 
their mode of attacking seals, but, owing to the slipperiness of 
their skulls, the teeth glide off. The cry for help which I 
uttered frightened the animal for a moment ; but he turned 
again and bit me several times on the head. The alarm had 
meanwhile been heard by the Captain, who had not yet 
reached the cabin. He hurried on deck, convinced himself 
that it was really an alarm, roused up the crew and hastened 
on to the ice, bringing assistance to his struggling comrade. 
The noise evidently frightened the bear, and he trotted off 
with his prey, which he dragged by the head. A shot fired 
to frighten the creature effected its purpose, inasmuch as he 
dropped me, and sprang a few steps aside ; but he imme- 



LIEUT. PAYER'S REMARKABLE JOURNEY 283 

diately seized me by the arm, and, his hold proving insufficient, 
he seized me by the right hand, on which was a fur glove, 
and this gave the pursuers time to come up with the brute, 
which had by its great speed left them far behind. He was 
now making for the shore, and would certainly have escaped 
with his prey, had he succeeded in climbing the bank. How- 
ever, as he came to the edge of the ice, he turned along the 
coast side, continuing on the rough and broken ice, which 
greatly retarded his speed, and thus allowed his pursuers 
upon the ice to gain rapidly upon him. After being dragged 
in this way for about 300 paces, almost strangled by my 
shawl, which the bear had seized at the same time, he dropped 
me, and immediately afterwards Koldewey was bending over 
me, with the words ' Thank God ! he is still alive.' The bear 
stood a few paces on one side evidently undecided what course 
to pursue, until a bullet gave him a hint that it was high time 
to take himself off." 

Preparations having been completed for an extended sledge 
journey to examine the bays and inlets of the mainland, the 
party started March 8, 1870, and were absent until April 27 
after twenty-three days of most arduous labours. Lieutenant 
Payer had the satisfaction of reaching 77° 1/ north latitude, 
at that time the most northerly point ever reached on the east 
coast of Greenland. From an elevated sight the sea appeared 
covered with an unbroken field of hummocks, and land was 
seen to stretch out in a northerly direction as far as the eye 
could reach. 

Other journeys which followed at close intervals greatly 
added to the geographical knowledge of the coast. On the 
return from one of these, they discovered (9th of August) the 
entrance to a magnificent fiord to the south of Cape Franklin 
(73° 10' north latitude), into which they penetrated to a dis- 
tance of seventy-two nautical miles. As they advanced 
into the interior, a decided change in the temperature was 



284 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

noticed, the atmosphere and water became warmer, and herds 
of reindeer and musk-oxen were seen; butterflies, bees, and 
other insects fluttered over the green earth. Nothing could 
exceed the grandeur of the scenery. 

"Numerous glaciers and cascades descended from the moun- 
tains, which rose higher and higher as they advanced towards 
the west. Lieutenant Payer and Doctor Copeland having 
climbed a peak 7000 feet high saw the fiord still branching out 
in the distance, and towards the west a remote chain of 
mountains, situated about 32° W. long., rising to an altitude 
of at least 14,000 feet, terminated the magnificent prospect. 
The interior of Greenland thus proved itself to be not a mere 
naked plateau covered with perpetual ice-fields, but in some 
parts at least a country of Alpine grandeur." 

On the 24th of August, the Germania steered her course 
for home ; as the ship cleared the last of the Greenland ice, 
Captain Koldewey quoted the words of old Scoresby under 
similar conditions. "My watch is over !" he used to say — 
and turning to Mr. Sengstache, Captain Koldewey exclaimed, 
"My watch is over !" and retired to his cabin with a feeling 
of security that he had not enjoyed for many a day. 

Pursuing a course past Iceland between the Faroe and 
Shetland isles, they stood off Heligoland, September 10. 
"At daybreak, though we had seen no pilot, we recognized 
Wangerooge, and steered along the South wall to the mouth 
of the Weser. No sign of a ship ! The Weser seemed to have 
died out. Where are the pilots hidden? Are they lying 
-perdu on account of yesterday's storm ? Well, then, we must 
run into the Weser without them, the wind is favorable, the 
weather clear, the outer buoy will be easy to find ; there is the 
church-tower of Wangerooge. Suspecting nothing, we steered 
on ; the tower bears south-southwest, southwest by south, 
southwest, but no buoy in sight. The Captain and steersman 
look at each other in astonishment. Can we have been so 



RETURN OF THE " GERMANIA " 285 

mistaken and out of our reckoning ? But, no ! That is 
certainly Wangerooge ; the depth of water agrees, our com- 
pass is correct. No doubt about it, we are in the Weser ; 
something unusual must have happened ! Still no sail in 
sight ! But what is that ? Yonder are the roads. There are 
several large vessels under steam ; they at least can give us 
some information. So we make for them. We saluted the 
German flag, and soon the cry was heard, 'War, war with 
France ; Napoleon a prisoner ! France has declared a Re- 
public ; our armies are before Paris ! ' And then, ' Hansa 
destroyed in the ice, crew saved.' We thought we were 
dreaming, and stood stiff with astonishment at such grand 
and heart-stirring news. Not until a loud hurrah for King 
William sounded from a hundred German throats did we re- 
gain our speech, and answer with another ' Hurrah ! '" 



CHAPTER XV 

Austrian expedition, 1871. — Payer and Weyprecht. — The Tegett- 
hoff adrift in the Polar pack. — Discovery of Franz Josef 
Land. — Payer's sledge journeys. — Payer's farthest 82° 5' 
north latitude. — Cape Fligely. — Abandonment of the Tegett- 
hoff. — Retreat of officers and crew. — Picked up by Russian 
fishermen. — " Home." 

Having gained much distinction for his valuable services 
in the second German expedition, Lieutenant Payer was re- 
solved to continue in the path of polar discovery. The fol- 
lowing year, in company with his colleague and friend, Lieu- 
tenant Weyprecht of the Austrian-Hungarian Navy, he 
equipped the Norwegian schooner Isbjorn and examined the 
edge of the ice between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, 
reaching 78° 43' north latitude, and 42° 30' east longitude, on 
the 1st of September, 1871. 

The zealous endeavours of Payer and Weyprecht succeeded 
in calling into existence a still larger Austrian expedition in 
1872. Their plan was to select a route by the north end of 
Nova Zembla with a view to making the Northeast Passage. 

"Weyprecht was to command the ship, Tegetthoff, while 
Lieutenant Payer was to conduct the sledge parties. The 
Tegetthoff sailed from Bremerhaven June 13, 1872, bearing 
in her course to Tromsoe. Her equipment was liberal and 
carefully selected, the total expense of the expedition amount- 
ing to £18,333. The officers and crew numbered twenty- 
four souls. 

" Delayed by storms among the Loffoden Isles, they did not 

286 



AUSTRIAN ARCTIC VOYAGES 287 

reach Tromsoe until July 3. Ten days later the Tegetthoff 
turned her prow to the north ; the Norwegian coast with its 
many glaciers was in full view on July 16, North Cape loomed 
in the blue distance. By July 25, while in lat. 74° 0' 15" N., 
the ice was sighted ; proceeding with careful navigation 
through opens in the frozen ocean, the ship moved in her 
course until the end of August, when she became beset near 
Cape Nassan, at the northern end of Nova Zembla, having 
just parted with the Isbjorn near Barentz Isle, where Count 
Wilczek was placing supplies for their possible retreat." 

"Ominous were the events of that day," writes Payer, 
"for immediately after we had made fast the Tegetthoff to 
that floe, the ice closed in upon us from all sides and we became 
close prisoners in its grasp. No water was to be seen around 
us, and never again were we destined to see our vessel in water. 
Happy is it for men that inextinguishable hope enables them 
to endure all the vicissitudes of fate, which are to test their 
powers of endurance, and that they can never see, at a glance, 
the long series of disappointments in store for them! We 
must have been filled with despair, had we known that even- 
ing that we were henceforward doomed to obey the caprices of 
the ice, that the ship would never again float on the waters of 
the sea, that all the expectations with which our friends, but 
a few hours before, saw the Tegetthoff steam away to the north, 
were now crushed ; that we were in fact no longer discoverers, 
but passengers against our will on the ice. From day to day, 
we hoped for the hour of our deliverance ! At first we ex- 
pected it hourly, then daily, then from week to week ; then 
at the seasons of the year and changes of the weather, then in 
the chances of new years ! But that hour never came, yet the 
light of hope, which supports man in all his suffering, and raises 
him above them all, never forsook us, amid all the depressing 
influence of expectations cherished only to be disappointed." 

To reach the coast of Siberia under these circumstances 



288 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

had become an impossibility, and even in case the ship became 
liberated, the search for a winter harbour in Nova Zembla 
would be a matter of peril and difficulty. 

Drifting, not with the current, but in the direction of the 
prevailing wind, the land of Nova Zembla receded until it 
faded out of sight and only a desert of ice surrounded them. 
The frightful ice convulsions which frequently threatened 
their destruction, determined the men to build a house on the 
main floe, where supplies of coal, fuel, and provisions were 
stored. Lieutenant Payer comments on the terrible condi- 
tions under which they existed. 

"One of us, to-day, remarked very truly, that he saw per- 
fectly well how one might lose his reason with the continuance 
of these sudden and incessant assaults. It is not dangers that 
we fear, but worse far ; we are kept in a constant state of 
readiness to meet destruction, and know not whether it will 
come to-day or to-morrow, or in a year. Every night we are 
startled out of sleep, and, like hunted animals, up we spring 
to await amid an awful darkness, the end of an enterprise 
from which all hope of success has departed. It becomes at 
last a mere mechanical process to seize our rifles and our bag 
of necessaries and rush on deck. In the daytime, leaning over 
the bulwarks of the ship, which trembles, yea, almost quivers 
the while, we look out on a continual work of destruction going 
on, and at night, as we listen to the loud and ever-increasing 
noises of the ice, we gather that the forces of our enemy are 
increasing." 

The hours of these dark and disheartening days were passed 
in taking observations, exercise, and occasional bear and 
sledge journeys. In spite of this the time crept away with 
indescribable monotony. During February the ship drifted 
first northwest and then north, the greatest longitude attained 
being 71° E., in 79° N. ; and the summer of 1873 advanced 
without any signs of freeing them. 





From " The Voyage oj the Vega," Macmillan & Co., Ltd., London 

A. E. NoRDENSKJOLD 



DISCOVERY OF FRANZ JOSEF LAND 289 

With sad resignation the officers and crew looked forward 
to passing another winter in the ice, although plenty of birds, 
seal, and bears insured them fresh meat, so essential for the 
preservation of health in high latitudes. 

"A memorable day," writes Payer, " was the 31st of August, 
1873, in 79° 43' Lat., and 59° 33' E. Long. That day brought 
a surprise, such as only the awakening to a new life can pro- 
duce. About midday, as we were leaning on the bulwarks 
of the ship and scanning the gliding mists, through which the 
rays of the sun broke ever and anon, a wall of mist, lifting it- 
self up suddenly, revealed to us, afar off in the northwest, 
the outlines of bold rocks, which in a few minutes seemed 
to grow into a radiant Alpine land ! At first we all stood 
transfixed and hardly believing what we saw. Then, carried 
away by the reality of our good fortune, we burst forth into 
shouts of joy — 'Land, land, land at last !' There was now 
not a sick man on board the Tegetthoff. The news of the 
discovery spread in an instant. Every one rushed on deck, 
to convince himself with his own eyes, that the expedition 
was not after all a failure, — there before us lay the prize 
that could not be snatched from us. Yet not by our own 
action, but through the happy caprice of our floe and as in a 
dream had we won it, but when we thought of the floe, drifting 
without intermission, we felt with redoubled pain, that we 
were at the mercy of its movements. As yet we had secured 
no winter harbour, from which the exploration of the strange 
land could be successfully undertaken. For the present, too, 
it was not within the verge of possibility to reach and visit it. 
If we had left our floe, we should have been cut off and lost. 
It was only under the influence of the first excitement that we 
made a rush over our ice-field, although we knew that number- 
less fissures made it impossible to reach the land. But, 
difficulties notwithstanding, when we ran to the edge of our 
floe, we beheld from a ridge of ice the mountains and glaciers 
u 



290 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

of the mysterious land. Its valleys seemed to our fond imagi- 
nation clothed with green pastures, over which herds of rein- 
deer roamed in undisturbed enjoyment of their liberty, and 
far from all floes. 

"For thousands of years this land had lain buried from 
the knowledge of men, and now its discovery had fallen into 
the lap of a small band, themselves almost lost to the world, 
who far from their home remembered the homage due their 
sovereign, and gave to the newly discovered territory the 
name Kaiser Franz Josef Land. With loud hurrahs we 
drank to the health of our Emperor in grog hastily made on 
deck in an iron coffee-pot, and then dressed the Tegetthoff 
with flags. All cares, for the present, at least, disappeared, 
and with them the passive monotony of our lives. There 
was not a day, there was hardly an hour, in which this mysteri- 
ous land did not henceforth occupy our thoughts and atten- 
tion." 

In October the vessel drifted within three miles of an island 
lying off the main mass of land. Lieutenant Payer landed 
on it, and found it to be in latitude 79° 54' N. It was named 
after Count Wilczek, whose deep interest in the expedition 
had won for him the affection of all. 

A second winter settled upon the Tegetthoff and her crew at 
this point, the chief diversion being bear hunts, in which no less 
than sixty-seven bears were killed. On the 10th of March, 
1874, Payer made a preliminary sledge journey, the object of 
which was to determine the position and general relations of 
the new land. A large sledge was used and was equipped for 
a week ; it carried an extra quantity of provisions, which were 
intended to form depots, for the more extended sledge journey 
contemplated for later on. Thirty-nine pounds of hard bread, 
five pounds of pemmican, sixteen pounds of boiled beef, 
one pound of pea-sausage, one-half pound of salt and pepper, 
six pounds of rice, two pounds of grits, five pounds of chocolate. 



payer's sledge journeys 291 

five gallons of rum, one pound of extract of meat, two pounds 
of condensed milk, and eight gallons of alcohol. The party 
consisted of Payer and six men, with three dogs. 

Intense cold and violent snow-storms, the thermometer 
falling as low as —59°, caused great suffering to the men from 
frost bites. This frightful temperature was experienced March 
14. On that day Payer with a Tyrolese mountain climber 
stood on the summit of the precipitous face of the Sonklar- 
Glacier, whose broad terminal front overhangs the frozen 
bay of Nordenskjold Fiord. 

After making deposits of provisions, the party were obliged 
to return to the ship, after an absence of five days. 

On March 26, Lieutenant Payer with ten men and three 
dogs started on a more extended journey of thirty days. 
The equipment for this second trip consisted of : — 

lbs. 

the large sledge 150 

the provisions, including packing 620 

the dog sledge 37 

the tent, sleeping bags, tent-poles, and Alpine stock 320 

alcohol and rum 128 

fur coats and fur gloves 140 

instruments, rifles, ammunition 170 

shovel, 2 cooking-machines, drag-ropes, dog-tent, etc. 

1565 

Each of the four sacks of provisions — calculated for seven 
days and seven men — contained fifty-one pounds of boiled 
beef, forty-eight pounds of bread, eight pounds of pemmican, 
seven pounds of bacon, two pounds of extract of meat, four 
pounds of condensed milk, two pounds of coffee, four pounds 
of chocolate, seven pounds of rice, three pounds of grits, 
one pound of salt and pepper, two pounds of pea-sausage, 
four pounds of sugar, besides a reserve bag with twenty pounds 
of bread. Boiled beef was taken as food for the dogs, and it 



292 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

was hoped that game would supplement the general rations. 

From almost the first hour violent blizzards, intense 
cold, and the uneven condition of the ice made the journey 
disheartening and laborious. By April 1 they penetrated by 
Cape Hausa into a newly discovered passage, covered with 
heavy ice, to which Payer gave the name of Austria Sound. 
By the 7th of April they advanced into Rawlinson Sound, 
over a track between hummocks some of which were forty 
feet high, the depressions between them filled with deep layers 
of snow. 

The noble mountain forms and mighty glaciers of Crown 
Prince Rudolf Land could be seen in the distance. Pursuing 
their course in a westerly direction they reached Hohenlohe 
Island the next day, where the expedition encamped, and the 
party divided, the smaller continuing to the north for the 
purpose of examining the glaciers of Rudolf Land. 

A disaster occurred the first day after their departure which 
nearly proved fatal to the success of their undertaking. 
While crossing the Middendorf glacier, the snow gave way 
beneath a sledge, which precipitated one of the men, Zanino- 
vich by name, the dogs and sledge, into a crevasse. "From 
an unknown depth," writes Payer, "I heard a man's voice 
.mingled with the howling of dogs. All this was the impression 
of a moment, while I felt myself dragged backwards by the 
rope. Staggering back, and seeing the dark abyss beneath 
me, I could not doubt that I should be precipitated into it the 
next instant. A wonderful Providence arrested the fall of 
the sledge ; at a depth of about thirty feet it stuck fast 
between the sides of the crevasse, just as I was being dragged 
to the edge of the abyss by its weight. The sledge having 
jammed itself in, I lay on my stomach close to the awful brink, 
the rope which attached me to the sledge tightly strained, and 
cutting deep into the snow. The situation was all the more 
dreadful as I, the only person present accustomed to the 



payee's sledge joubneys 293 

dangers of glaciers, lay there unable to stir. When I cried 
down to Zaninovich that I would cut the rope, he implored me 
not to do it, for if I did, the sledge would turn over, and he 
would be killed. For a time I lay quiet, considering what was 
to be done. By and by it flashed into my memory, how I and 
my guide had once fallen down a. wall of ice in the Irtler 
Mountains, eight hundred feet high, and had escaped. This 
inspired me with confidence to venture on a rescue, desperate 
as it seemed under the circumstances. Orel had now come 
up, and, although he had never been on a glacier before, this 
gallant officer dauntlessly advanced to the edge of the cre- 
vasse, and laying himself on his stomach, looked down into 
the abyss, and cried to me, 'Zaninovich is lying on a ledge 
of snow in the crevasse, with precipices all round him and the 
dogs are still attached to the traces of the sledge, which has 
stuck fast.' I called to him to throw me his knife, which he 
did with such dexterity, that I was able to lay hold of it 
without difficulty, and as the only means of rescue, I severed 
the trace which was fastened round my waist. The sledge 
made a short turn, and then stuck fast again. I immediately 
sprang to my feet, drew off my canvas boots, and sprang over 
the crevasse, which was about ten feet broad. I now caught 
sight of Zaninovich and the dogs, and shouted to him, that 
I would run back to Hohenlohe Island to fetch men and ropes 
for his rescue, and that rescued he would be, if he could con- 
trive for four hours to keep himself from being frozen. I heard 
his answer : ' Fate, Signore, fate pure ! ' and then Orel and 
I disappeared. Heedless of the crevasses which lay in our 
path* or of the bears which might attack us, We ran down the 
glacier back to Cape Schrotter, six miles off. Only one 
thought possessed us — the rescue of Zaninovich, the jewel 
and pride of our party, and the recovery of our invaluable 
store of provisions, and of the book containing our journals, 
which, if lost, could never be replaced. But even apart 



294 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

from my personal feeling for Zaninovich, I keenly felt the re- 
proaches to which I should be exposed of incautious travelling 
on glaciers ; and it gave me no comfort to think that my 
previous experiences in this kind of travelling over the glaciers 
of Greenland appeared to justify my proceedings. Stung 
with these reflections, I pressed on at the top of my speed, 
leaving Orel far behind me. Bathed with perspiration, I 
threw off my bird-skin garments, my boots, my gloves, and 
my shawl, and ran in my stockings through the deep snow. 
After passing the labyrinth of icebergs I saw the rocky pyramid 
of Cape Schrotter before me in the distance. The success 
of my venture depended on the weather. If snow driving 
should set in, and the footprints should be obliterated, it 
would be impossible to find Hohenlohe Island. All around 
me it was fearfully lonely. Encompassed by glaciers, I was 
absolutely alone. At last I saw Klotz emerge from behind 
an iceberg at some distance off, and though I continued to 
shout his name till I almost reached him, I failed to rouse 
him from his usual reverie. When at last he saw me breath- 
lessly pushing on, scarcely clothed, and constantly calling, 
his sack slipped from his back, and he stared at me as if he had 
lost his senses. When the hardy son of the mountains 
came to understand that Zaninovich with the sledge was 
buried in the crevasse, he began to weep, in his simplicity of 
heart taking the blame of what had happened on himself. 
He was so agitated and disturbed, that I made him promise 
that he would do himself no mischief, and then, leaving him 
to his moody silence, I ran on again towards the island. It 
seemed as if I should never reach Cape Schrotter ; with head 
bent down I trudged on, counting my steps through the deep 
snow ; when I raised it again, after a little time, it was always 
the same black spot that I saw on the distant horizon. At 
last I came near it, saw the tent, saw some dark spots creep 
out of it, saw them gather together, and then run down the 



CAPE FLIGELY 295 

snow-slope. These were the friends we had left behind. A 
few words of explanation, with an exhortation to abstain from 
idle lamentations, were enough. They at once detached a 
second rope from the large sledge, and got hold of a long 
tent-pole. Meanwhile I had rushed upon the cooking- 
machine, quickly melted a little snow to quench my raging 
thirst, and then we all set off again — Haller, Sussick, 
Lukinovich, and myself — to the Middendorf glacier. Tent 
and provisions were left unwatched ; we ran back for three 
hours and a half ; fears for Zaninovich gave such wings to my 
steps, that my companions were scarcely able to keep up with 
me. Ever and anon, I had to stop to drink some rum. At 
the outset, we met Orel, and rather later Klotz, both making 
for Cape Schrotter, Klotz to remain behind there, and Orel 
to return with us at once to Middendorf glacier. When we 
came among the icebergs under Cape Habermann, I picked 
up, one by one, the clothes I had thrown away. Reaching 
the glacier, we tied ourselves together with a rope. Going 
before the rest I approached with beating heart the place, 
where the sledge had disappeared four hours and a half ago. 
A dark abyss yawned before us ; not a sound issued from its 
depths, not even when I lay on the ground and shouted. At 
last I heard the whining of a dog, and then an unintelligible 
answer from Zaninovich. Haller was quickly let down by a 
rope ; he found him still living, but almost frozen, on a ledge 
of snow forty feet down the crevasse. Fastening himself 
and Zaninovich to the rope, they were drawn up after great 
exertion. A storm of greetings saluted Zaninovich, stiff and 
speechless though he was, when he appeared on the surface 
of the glacier. I need not add that we gave him some rum 
to stimulate his vital energies. It was a noble proof how duty 
and discipline assert themselves, even in such situations, that 
the first word of this sailor, saved from being frozen to death, 
was not a complaint, but thanks, accompanied with a request 



296 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

that I would pardon him if he, in order to save himself from 
being frozen, had ventured to drink a portion of the rum, 
which had fallen down in its case with the sledge to his ledge 
of snow. Haller again descended, and fastened the dogs to a 
rope. The clever animals had freed themselves from their 
traces in some inexplicable way, and had sprung to a narrow 
ledge, where Haller found them, close to where Zaninovich 
had lain. It was astonishing how quickly they discerned the 
danger of the position and how great was their confidence in us. 
They had slept the whole time, as Zaninovich afterwards told 
us, and he had carefully avoided touching them lest they 
should fall down deeper into the abyss. We drew them up 
with some difficulty, and they gave expression to their joy, 
first by rolling themselves vigorously in the snow, and then 
by licking our hands. We then raised Haller by the rope 
some ten feet higher than the ledge on which Zaninovich had 
lain, so that he might be able to cut the ropes which fastened 
the loading of the firmly wedged in sledge. At this moment, 
Orel arrived, and with his help we raised one by one the 
articles with which the sledge was loaded. It was ten o'clock 
before we were convinced that we had lost nothing of any 
importance in the crevasse." 

On April 12, 1874, Payer and his companions attained 
their farthest north, 82° 5' north latitude ; on that day they 
stood on a promontory about one thousand feet high, to which 
the name of Cape Fligely was given. 

"Rudolf Land still stretched in a northeasterly direction," 
writes Payer, " towards a Cape, Cape Sherard Osborne — 
though it was impossible to determine its further course and 
connection." 

In the distant north, blue mountain ranges indicated 
masses of land and to these the names of King Oscar Land 
and Petermann Land were given. "Proudly we planted the 
Austro-Hungarian flag," continues Payer, "for the first time 



HOME 297 

in the high North. A document we enclosed in a bottle and 
deposited in a cleft of rock." The return to the ship was ren- 
dered doubly hazardous by the insecurity of the ice, and the 
increasing water holes. 

The results of the journey may be summed up as follows — 
Payer found the newly discovered country to be about the 
size of Spitzbergen, and consisting of two large masses, 
Wilczek Land to the East, and Zichy Land to the west, inter- 
sected by numerous fjords and skirted by many islands. 
Austria Sound divides the two main masses of land and extends 
to 82° N., where Rawlinson Sound forks off to the northeast. 
The mountains reach a height of two thousand to three thou- 
sand feet ; glaciers abound in the ravines, and even the islands 
are covered with a glacial cap. 

A third sledge journey was undertaken by Lieutenant 
Payer on April 29 to explore a large island named after 
M'Clintock. 

The momentous day, May 20, on which the Tegetthoff was 
abandoned, came at last. Three boats were selected by the 
return expedition. Two of these were Norwegian whale- 
boats, twenty feet long, five feet broad, and two and one-half 
deep ; the third was somewhat smaller. 

The hummocks rendered their advance discouragingly 
slow. It was necessary to pass over the same short distance 
many times in the course of a day, and after two months of 
indescribable efforts, the distance reached by the party was 
not more than two German miles. An occasional bear, 
shot by the men, restored the waning strength and courage, 
but not until August 14, did the welcome sound of the open 
water reach their ears, and in 77° 40' north latitude, they 
launched their boats. Nine days later they were picked up by 
Russian fishermen off the coast of Nova Zembla. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Baron A. E. von Nordenskjold. — First voyage 1858. — Accom- 
panies succeeding Swedish expeditions. —Spitzbergen. — Voyage 
of Sofia. — 1868. — Nordenskj old's journey to Greenland. — 
Voyage of the Polhem. — Attempt to reach the Pole by reindeer 
sledge. — Unexpected discouragements and disasters. ■ — Voyage 
of the Proven. — 1875. — The Kara Sea. — Journey repeated the 
following year. — In the Ymer. — Voyage of the Vega. 

The career of Baron A. E. von Nordenskjold is one of the 
most distinguished in Arctic history. Born in Helsingfors, 
Finland, November 18, 1832, he learned at an early age the 
thrill of adventure and the joys of research while accompany- 
ing his distinguished father on his mineralogical tours in the 
Ural Mountains. After graduating at Helsingfors in 1857, 
Nordenskjold was himself appointed a professor of mineralogy 
at Stockholm. Baron Nordenskj old's scientific interest in 
polar research began as early as 1858, when he accompanied 
Otto Torell, chief geologist of Sweden, who sailed on the Frith- 
rop for Spitzbergen. This was the beginning of a series of 
Swedish expeditions that covered a quarter of a century, in 
which Nordenskjold had a most valuable and active part. 
Two months were spent on the west coast of Spitzbergen, 
in dredging the sea, studying the land formation and its 
botanical and glacial conditions. 

Nordenskj old's chief contribution to science on this expedi- 
tion was the discovery of a fossil-bearing rock in carbon- 
iferous formations. 

Another journey beyond the Arctic circle was undertaken 
by Torell in 1861, for a more thorough survey and study of the 
natural history and geology of Spitzbergen. On this journey, 

298 



SPITZBERGEN 299 

Torell, Nordenskjold and Petersen undertook a boat journey 
to Hinlopen Strait and later visited the coast of Northeast 
Land. Passing North Cape and visiting Seven Islands, 
they reached their farthest, 80° 42' N., August 5, at Phipps 
Island. 

Prince Oscar Land was reached a week later, and from a 
mountain two thousand feet high near Cape Wrede, two 
islands could be seen in the distance, to which were given the 
names of Charles XII and Drabanten. Pushing their way 
east of Cape Platen, the ice conditions forced their return. 

In 1863 Nordenskjold again visited Spitzbergen, and again 
in 1864, when he was placed in charge of the Swedish expedi- 
tion, and was accompanied by Duner and Malmgren. In a 
small boat of twenty-six tons burden, and provisioned for less 
than six months, they entered Safe Harbor at the entrance of 
the magnificent Ice Fiord. After rounding the southern cape 
of Spitzbergen, they entered Store Fiord, and visited Edges 
Land and Barentz Land. After entering Helis Sound and 
ascending White Mountain, they again rounded South Cape 
with the intention of following the west coast as far north as 
the ice would permit. On this journey while off Charles 
Foreland, they rescued some shipwrecked sailors, whose ves- 
sels had become beset off Seven Islands, and who had jour- 
neyed in open boats some two hundred miles in fourteen 
days. An immediate return was thus made necessary, but 
the results of the summer's work was a map, executed by Nor- 
denskjold and Duner, which delineates Spitzbergen with 
great accuracy. 

In 1868 the Swedish expedition had for its objective point 
the Pole. The Sofia was chosen for this purpose and com- 
manded by Captain (Count) F. W. von Otter, with Nor- 
denskjold as scientific chief. Smeerenberg Bay at the north 
end of Spitzbergen was decided upon as a place of rendezvous 
and from this point the Sofia made two attempts for a high 



300 THE GEE AT WHITE NOETH 

northing. In the second she was rewarded by reaching on 
September 19, 1868, 81° 42' N., and 17° 30' E., at that time 
the farthest north attained by any ship. A third attempt 
to push the Sofia through the impenetrable pack resulted in 
her becoming disabled and necessitated the return of the 
expedition to Sweden. 

In 1870 Nordenskjold made a journey to Greenland, ac- 
companied by Dr. Berggren, the noted professor of botany at 
Lund. The object of the expedition was to penetrate the 
unexplored interior from a point at the northern arm of a 
deep inlet called Aulaitsivik Fiord, some sixty miles south of 
the discharging glacier at Jakobshaven and two hundred 
and forty north of the glacier at Godthaab. He commenced 
his inland journey on the 19th of July. Besides Dr. Berggren, 
he was assisted by two Eskimos, but the disheartening 
difficulties of travel over the inland ice of Greenland, caused 
by the slow movement of the glaciers, which produce chasms 
and clefts of almost bottomless depth, soon caused the party 
to abandon their sledge, and later the two natives refused 
to proceed. Undaunted by their desertion, Nordenskjold 
and Dr. Berggren continued their explorations alone and 
advanced thirty miles over the glaciers to a height of twenty- 
two hundred feet above the sea. One of the most important 
results of this remarkable journey was the discovery of two 
meteorites, the largest ever known. 

In 1871 Nordenskjold again set out for Spitzbergen. His 
object was to reach the Pole by reindeer-sledging. Sailing 
in the ship Polhem commanded by Lieutenant Palander of 
the Swedish Navy, and accompanied by two convoys, the 
Gladen and Onkle Adam, they reached Mussel Bay, and there 
established winter quarters. In an attempt to return, the 
convoys were beset in a violent storm. Unable to extricate 
themselves and not being. provisioned for winter the crews, 
numbering forty-three men, were suddenly forced upon 
Nordenskj old's party for fuel and supplies. 



VOYAGE OF THE " POLHEM" 301 

To distribute food intended for twenty-four persons among 
a party of sixty-seven was a serious problem, and was only 
accomplished by reducing the rations of all one-third. Hardly 
had this blow fallen upon the prospects of the expedition, 
when they were visited by four men with the overwhelming 
news that six walrus-vessels had been frozen in at Point Grey 
and Cape Welcome. By hunting it was hoped that the fifty- 
eight unfortunate men would manage to avoid starvation 
until the first of December, after that their only salvation 
rested with the generosity of Nordenskjold. The only relief 
to the appalling situation was in the fact that a Swedish 
colony had that year worked a phosphatic deposit at Cape 
Thorsden, Ice Fiord, and the manager after abandoning the 
work had returned to Norway, leaving behind him a consider- 
able amount of stores. Cape Thorsden was distant two 
hundred miles, but seventeen of the walrus-hunters deter- 
mined to undertake it. These men succeeded in reaching the 
depot, where an ample supply of all the necessaries of life 
awaited them — including a house, fuel, preserved and dried 
vegetables, and fresh potatoes. Huddling in one room, living 
on salt-beef and pork, rather than go to the exertion of avail- 
ing themselves of the ample diet at hand — these men were 
attacked by scurvy and not one survived the rigours of the 
winter. At Mussel Bay the food conditions were deplorable, 
but were eked out by the utilization of reindeer moss mixed 
with rye flour, which produced a very bitter bread. 

This sacrifice of the food of the reindeer greatly crippled 
Nordenskj old's cherished plans for his spring journeys, and 
to add to his disappointments, the reindeer themselves were 
carelessly allowed to escape by the Lapps during a violent 
snow-storm. A fortunate opening of the ice early in No- 
vember allowed two vessels to escape, and these vessels took 
the crews of the four others. 

The Arctic night was passed by the expedition in making 



302 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

scientific observations, dredging under the ice, and in mental 
and physical exercise. In spite of every precaution against 
the dreaded foe, scurvy broke out among the men, but was 
overcome under a strict diet regime. 

In spite of the disastrous loss of his reindeer and the de- 
pleted state of his stores and provisions, Nordenskjold at- 
tempted his northern journey the following spring. At 
Seven Islands he was stopped by the ice, but in spite of this 
disappointment he concluded to visit North East Land for 
the purpose of geographical research. A journey of five days 
over impassable hummocks resulted in his making Cape 
Platen — and later Otter Island. 

The increased dangers of travel and the presence of water 
holes determined him to abandon the coast route and strike 
across the inland ice. This arduous journey was over hard- 
packed blinding white snow, "glazed and polished," he writes, 
"so that we might have thought ourselves to be advancing 
over an unsurpassably faultless and spotless floor of white 
marble." Blinding storms, blizzards, or ice fogs, marked each 
step of their fifteen days' journey. Snow bridges covered 
treacherous chasms, some of which were forty feet in depth. 
On June 15, they descended into Hinlopen Strait at Wahlen- 
berg Bay, and finally the party reached Mussel Bay after 
an absence of sixty days. 

In the early summer, they had the good fortune to be 
visited by Mr. Leigh Smith, the veteran Arctic navigator 
and scientist, in his private yacht Diana, through whose 
generosity the expedition was liberally supplied with fresh 
provisions, which removed the pending anxiety for the future. 

In 1875 Nordenskjold turned his attention to the possi- 
bility of navigating the seas along the northern coast of Siberia. 
This route had already been opened by Captain Wiggins 
of Sunderland, who in 1874, 1875, and 1876, opened the way 
to trade between Europe and the mouth of the Yenisei River. 



VOYAGE OF THE "PROVEN" 303 

Nordenskjold sailed from Tromsoe, in the Proven, June, 1875, 
and successfully navigating the Kara Sea reached an excellent 
harbour on the eastern side of the mouth of the Yenisei, to 
which he gave the name of Port Dickson, in honour of Mr. 
Oscar Dickson, of Gothenburg, for many years the liberal 
supporter of the Swedish expeditions. 

To demonstrate that the Kara Sea had not been more free 
of ice than usual in the summer of 1875 and that the route 
would be practicable another season, Nordenskjold repeated 
his voyage in the Ymer the following year. 

His long Arctic experience had by this time convinced him 
of the feasibility of the northeast passage. To demonstrate 
this conviction, he enlisted the patronage of the king of 
Sweden, Mr. Oscar Dickson, and Mr. Sibiriakoff, a Siberian 
proprietor of vast wealth, and the result was the purchase of 
the Vega, which was liberally equipped for a successful expe- 
dition. 

The Vega had been used for whale-fishing in the north polar 
sea, her register was three hundred and fifty-seven tons gross, 
or two hundred ""and ninety-nine net. 
Her dimensions were as follows : — metres 

Length of keel 37.6 

Length over deck 43.4 

Beam extreme 8.4 

Depth of hold 4.6 

She had a sixty horse-power engine, which required ten 
cubic feet of coal per hour, developing an average speed of 
six or seven knots per hour. The vessel was a full-rigged 
bark, with pitch pine masts, iron wire rigging and patent 
reefing top sails ; under sail alone she was able to attain a 
speed of nine or ten knots. She carried the Swedish man- 
of-war flag with a crowned "0" in the middle, and bore this 
triumphantly throughout a voyage which stands in history 
as the first circumnavigation of Asia and Europe. 



304 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

With Nordenskjold as leader, Lieutenant Palander com- 
mander of the ship, and an efficient staff of officers and scien- 
tists, which included such men as Lieutenant Horgaard of 
the Royal Danish Navy, for superintendent of the magnetical 
and meteorological work, F. R. Kjellman, Ph.D., Docent in 
Botany in the University of Upsala, and Lieutenant G. Bore, 
of the Royal Italian Navy, superintendent of the hydro- 
graphical work, the Vega sailed from Gothenburg July 4, 
1878, in company with her convoy, the Lena. Port Dickson 
was reached on the morning of August 10, and nine days later 
Cape Serero or Chelyuskin in 77° 41' north latitude. Of this, 
the most northern point of Siberia, Nordenskjold writes : — 

"We had now reached a great goal, which for centuries had 
been the object of unsuccessful struggles. For the first time 
a vessel lay at anchor off the northernmost cape of the old 
world. No wonder then that the occurrence was celebrated 
by a display of flags and the firing of salutes, and when we 
returned from our excursion on land, by festivities on board, 
by wine and toast." 

"The north point of Asia forms a low promontory, which a 
bay divides into two, the eastern arm projecting a little farther 
to the north than the western. A ridge of hills with gently 
sloping sides runs into the land from the eastern point, and 
appears within sight of the western to reach a height of 
three hundred metres. Like the plain lying below, the sum- 
mits of this range were nearly free of snow. Only on the hill- 
sides or in deep furrows excavated by the streams of melted 
snow, and in dales in the plains, were large white snow-fields 
to be seen. A low ice-foot still remained at most places along 
the shore. But no glacier rolled its bluish-white ice-masses 
down the mountain sides, and no inland lakes, no perpen- 
dicular cliffs, no high mountain summits, gave any natural 
beauty to the landscape, which was the most monotonous 
and the most desolate I have seen in the High North." 



VOYAGE OF THE " VEGA " 305 

On the 23d the Vega was again steaming forward among 
the fields of drift-ice. The difficulties of voyaging through 
unknown waters overhung with fogs and mists may better 
be understood by an anecdote described by Nordenskjold, 
which illustrates how completely a person may be deceived 
by size and distance of objects : — 

"One can scarcely, without having experienced it," he 
writes, "form any idea of the optical illusions, which are 
produced by mist, in regions where the size of the objects 
which are visible through fog is not known beforehand, and 
thus does not give the spectator an idea of the distance. Our 
estimate of the distance and size in such cases depends wholly 
on accident. The obscure contours of the fog-concealed 
objects themselves, besides, are often by the ignorance of the 
spectator converted into whimsical fantastic forms. During 
a boat journey in Hinlopen Strait I once intended to row 
among drift-ice to an island at a distance of some few kilo- 
metres. When the boat started, the air was clear, but while 
we were employed, as best we could, in shooting sea-fowl 
for dinner, all was wrapt in a thick mist, and that so unexpect- 
edly, that we had not time to take the bearings of the island. 
This led to a not altogether pleasant row by guess among 
the pieces of ice that were drifting about in rapid motion in the 
sound. All exerted themselves as much as possible to get 
sight of the island, whose beach would afford us a safe resting- 
place. While thus occupied, a dark border was seen through 
the mist at the horizon. It was taken for the island which 
we were bound for, and it was not at first considered remark- 
able that the dark border rose rapidly, for we thought that 
the mist was dispersing and in consequence of that more of 
the land was visible. Soon two white snow-fields that we 
had not observed before, were seen on both sides of the land, 
and immediately after this was changed to a sea monster, 
resembling a walrus-head as large as a mountain. This 



306 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

got life and motion, and finally sank all at once to the head of a 
common walrus, which lay on a piece of ice in the neighbour- 
hood of the boat ; the white tusks formed the snow-fields 
and the dark brown round head the mountain. Scarce was 
this illusion gone when one of the men cried out, 'Land right 
ahead — high land ! ' We now all saw before us a high 
Alpine region, with mountain peaks and glaciers, but this too 
sank a moment afterwards all . at once to a common ice- 
border, blackened with earth. In the spring of 1873 Phe- 
lander and I with nine men made a sledge journey round 
Northeast Land. In the course of this journey a great many 
bears were seen and killed. When a bear was seen while we 
were dragging our sledge forward, the train commonly stood 
still, and, not to frighten the bear, all the men concealed them- 
selves behind the sledges, with the exception of the marks- 
man, who, squatting down in some convenient place, waited 
till his prey should come sufficiently in range to be killed with 
certainty. 

"It happened once during foggy weather on the ice at 
Wahlenberg Bay that the bear that was expected and had been 
clearly seen by all of us, instead of approaching with his usual 
supple zigzag movements, and with his ordinary attempts to 
nose himself to a sure insight into the fitness of the foreigners 
for food, just as the marksman took aim, spread out gigantic 
wings and flew away in the form of a small ivory gull. An- 
other time during the same sledge journey we heard from the 
tent in which we rested the cook, who was employed outside, 
cry out, 'A bear ! a great bear ! No ! a reindeer, a very 
little reindeer ! ' The same instant a well-directed shot was 
fired, and the bear-reindeer was found to be a very small 
fox, which thus paid with its life for the honour of having 
for some moments played the part of a big animal. From 
these accounts it may be seen how difficult navigation among 
drift-ice must be in unknown waters." 



VOYAGE OF THE " VEGA " 307 

It had been understood that the Lena would accompany 
the Vega as far as one of the mouth-arms of the Lena River. 
But on the night of the 27th of August, while off Tumat 
Islands, all conditions being favourable, the ships parted com- 
pany, after Captain Johannesen had received orders, pass- 
ports and letters for home. " As a parting salute to our trusty 
little attendant during our voyage round the north point of 
Asia some rockets were fired, on which we steamed or sailed 
on, each to his destination." 

Following an easterly course, through shallow open water 
the Vega all but made the Northeast Passage in one season. 
Toward the end of September, however, she was frozen in 
off the shore of a low plain or tundra in 67° 71' N., and 173° 
20' W., near the settlements of the Chuckches, numbering 
about three hundred souls. The open water which to a late 
date in the season had favoured the progress of the expedition, 
was accounted for by the volumes of warm water discharged 
into the Polar Sea during the summer by the great Siberian 
river systems. During the voyage, valuable natural history 
collections were made, and the sea bottom was found to 
abound in animal and vegetable life. 

"When we were beset," writes Nordenskjold, "the ice next 
the shore was too weak to carry a foot passenger, and the 
difficulty of reaching the vessel from the land with the means 
which the Chuckches had at their disposal was thus very 
great. When the natives observed us, there was in any case 
immediately a great commotion among them. Men, women, 
children, and dogs were seen running up and down the beach 
in eager confusion ; some were seen driving in dog-sledges on 
the ice street next the sea. They evidently feared that the 
splendid opportunity which here lay before them of purchas- 
ing brandy and tobacco would be lost. From the vessel we 
could see with glasses how several attempts were made to put 
out boats, but they were again given up, until at last a boat 



308 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

was got to a lane, clear of ice or only covered with a thin sheet, 
that ran from the shore to the neighbourhood of the vessel. 
In this a large skin boat was put out, which was filled brimful 
of men and women, regardless of the evident danger of navi- 
gating such a boat, heavily laden, through sharp, newly 
formed ice. They rowed immediately to the vessel, and on 
reaching it most of them climbed without the least hesitation 
over the gunwale with jests and laughter, and the cry 'anoaj, 
anoaj' (good day, good day). 

"Our first meeting with the inhabitants of this region, where 
we afterwards passed ten long months, was on both sides very 
hearty, and formed the starting-point of a very friendly rela- 
tion between the Chuckches and ourselves, which remained 
unaltered during the whole of our stay." 

"On the 5th of October," continues Nordenskjold, "the 
openings between the drift-ice fields next the vessel were 
covered with splendid skating ice, of which we availed our- 
selves by celebrating a gay and joyous festival. The Chuckche 
women and children were now seen fishing for winter roach 
along the shore. In this sort of fishing a man, who always 
accompanies the fishing women, with an iron-shod lance cuts 
a hole in the ice so near the shore that the distance between 
the under corner of the hole and the bottom is only half a 
metre. Each hole is used only by one woman, and that only 
for a short time. Stooping down at the hole, in which the 
surface of the water is kept quite clear of pieces of ice by means 
of an ice-sieve, she endeavours to attract the fish by means of 
a peculiar, wonderfully clattering cry. First, when a fish is 
seen in the water, an angling line, provided with a hook of 
bone, iron, or copper, is thrown down, strips of the entrails 
of fish being employed as bait. A small metre-long staff 
with a single or double crook in the end was also used as a 
fishing implement. With this little leister the men cast up 
fish on the ice with incredible dexterity." 




g 1 S$ 



fc"H bH 






RETURN OF THE " VEGA " 309 

Hunting and exploring excursions were sent out from the 
Vega with varying success ; as the seasons advanced the 
natives were threatened with the usual scarcity of food, which 
was largely relieved by the generosity of the Europeans. A 
most careful and thorough study was made of these natives, 
their characteristics, mode of life, manners, speech, and 
customs. 

On July 18, the Vega was liberated from the ice, after hav- 
ing been imprisoned two hundred and ninety-four days. 

After a lapse of three hundred and twenty-six years, when 
Sir Hugh Willoughby made the first attempt at a northeast 
passage, the Vega sailed through Behring Strait, July 20, 
1879, being the first vessel to penetrate by the north from 
one of the great world oceans to another. The Vega an- 
chored at Yokohama on the evening of the 2d of September. 

"On our arrival off Yokohama," writes Nordenskjold, "we 
were all in good health and the Vega in excellent condition, 
though, after the long voyage, in want of some minor repair, 
of docking, and possibly of coppering. Naturally among thirty 
men some mild attacks of illness could not be avoided in the 
course of a year, but no disease had been generally prevalent, 
and our state of health had constantly been excellent. Of 
scurvy we had not seen a trace." 

From Yokohama the news of the Vega's success was tele- 
graphed throughout the world, and the homeward journey 
of the expedition, via Hong Kong, Singapore, Suez, Naples, 
Lisbon, Copenhagen, to Stockholm was one of triumphant 
progress ; each country trying to outdo the others in giving 
a royal welcome to the gallant explorers. The Vega reached 
Stockholm April 24, 1880, after a journey of twenty-two 
thousand one hundred eighty-nine miles. 



CHAPTER XVII 



British expedition of 1875. — The -Alert and Discovery. — Captain 
George S. Nares, F. R. S., Albert H. Markham, F. R. G. S. — Two 
voyages of the Pandora, 1875-1876. — Schwatka's search for the 
Franklin records, 1878-1879. 

The British north polar expedition of 1875 comprised the 
Alert, a seventeen-gun sloop, and the Discovery, originally a 
Dundee whaler. Under the supervision of the Admiral 

Superintendent of 
the Dockyard at 
Portsmouth (Sir 
Leopold M'Clin- 
tock) these ships 
were completely 
overhauled, reen- 
forced, and admir- 
ably outfitted for 
the service ex- 
pected of them. 
Each vessel was 
supplied with nine 
boats of various 
sizes, especially 
constructed for 
service in Arctic 
waters. Great 
care was exercised 

By permission of The Illustrated London News. m Selection 01 01- 

CaptainG. S. Nares, F. R. s. ficers and men; 

310 




CAPTAIN GEOEGE S. NARES, F. R. S. 



311 



and their social, moral, and physical qualifications were strictly 
inquired into. To Captain George S. Nares, F. R. S., was 
intrusted the command of the expedition, and Commander 
Albert H. Markham was placed second in command. 

On the afternoon of May 29, 1875, the vessels steamed 
out of Portsmouth harbour. At Spithead the squadron was 
joined by the 
Valorous, which 
accompanied the 
ships as far as 
Disco. After a 
stormy but un- 
eventful voyage 
the expedition 
stood off some 
distance from 
Cape Farewell 
June 25. On the 
27th, a falling 
temperature and 
a peculiar light 
blink along the 
horizon gave due 
notice of the im- 
mediate prox- 
imity of the ice. 
The weather 
being thick and 
foggy, extra pre- 
cautions were taken to avoid collision with any icebergs. The 
following morning, the high, bold, snow-capped hills near 
Cape Desolation were sighted. Seals were now seen basking 
lazily on the ice, and birds common to these regions hovered 
round the ships, awakening the echoes with their gladsome 




By permission of The Illustrated London News. 
Commander A. H. Markham 



312 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

cries. On July 1, the little Danish settlement of Fiskernaes 
was passed, and later that of Godthaab. On July 4, the Arctic 
circle was crossed, and two days afterwards the expedition was 
safely landed in the bay of Lievely, off Godhaven ; the 
Inspector and inhabitants giving a warm and hearty welcome. 
Stores were now taken aboard from the Valorous, and every 
preparation made to plunge into the frozen north, and meet 
the experiences of a long period of enforced isolation. 

A dense fog soon necessitated making the ships fast to ice- 
bergs to await a more favourable opportunity of advancing. 

"Whilst attempting to secure the ships," continues Mark- 
ham, "an alarming catastrophe occurred. The boat had been 
despatched containing three men with the necessary imple- 
ments, such as an ice drill and anchor for making the vessel 
fast. As soon as the first blow of the drill was delivered, the 
berg, to our horror, split in two with a loud report, one half 
with one of our men on it toppling over, whilst the other half 
swayed rapidly backwards and forwards. On this latter 
piece was another of our men, who was observed with his 
heels in the air, the violent agitation of the berg having pre- 
cipitated him head foremost into a rent or crevasse. The 
water alongside was a mass of seething foam and spray, but 
curious to relate, the boat with the third man in it was in no 
way injured. They were all speedily rescued from their peril- 
ous position and brought on board, sustaining no further harm 
than that inflicted by a cold bath. Their escape appeared 
miraculous." 

On the 19th of July, the ships came to anchor off the Danish 
settlement of Proven, and here Hans Hendrik, the Eskimo, 
dog-driver and hunter, who had accompanied so many expe- 
ditions to Smith Sound, was engaged. Putting to sea once 
more, they passed the headland of "Sanderson, his hope," 
the 21st of July, anchoring off Upernavik the following 
morning. 



ALBERT H. MARKHAM, F. R. G. S. 313 

Pushing boldly through the middle ice, the passage through 
Melville Bay was safely accomplished and the North Water 
reached without incident. Arriving off the Cary Islands on 
the morning of the 27th, a cache of provisions was landed 
sufficient to sustain sixty men for two months. Other depots 
were cached at Cape Hawkes and Cape Lincoln. By the 
28th of July both ships came to anchor at Port Foulke, the 
winter quarters of Dr. Hayes in 1860. An excursion from 
this point was taken by Captain Nares and Commander 
Markham to Life-boat Cove, the winter quarters of the rem- 
nant of the Polaris crew in 1872-1873 Traces of that expe- 
dition were immediately found upon landing ; various relics 
such as a trunk, an old basket lined with tin, boxes, stores, 
pieces of wood, gun-barrels, and odds and ends lay strewn 
about. A collection was made of such articles as were of 
any value for the purpose of returning them to the United 
States. Nares and Markham now proceeded to Littleton 
Island in the hopes of finding an iron boat left there by Dr. 
Hayes in 1860. Though a careful search was made, no traces 
of it were discovered. 

After erecting a cairn at the southwest end of the island on 
a hill some five or six hundred feet above sea level, from which 
point Cape Sabine and Cape Fraser could be seen, the inter- 
vening distance navigable open water, Captain Nares and 
Commander Markham congratulated themselves on the 
prospect of rapid progress. 

A few hours after the return to the ship the favourable con- 
ditions suddenly changed, and from that time on the two ships 
battled with the ice-pack. Hugging the west shore, and keep- 
ing free from the main pack after leaving Cape Sabine, Cap- 
tain Nares hardly left the crow's-nest in his heroic efforts 
to take advantage of every lead and opening. 

"Little rest was enjoyed by any on these days during which 
we were subjected to the wayward will of the pack," writes 



314 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

Commander Markham. On the 19th of August, he says, 
"During the last three weeks we had advanced exactly ninety 
miles, or at the rate of about four and a quarter a day. This 
cannot be considered a rapid rate of travelling, yet to accom- 
plish even this necessitated a constant and vigilant lookout." 

Pushing their way steadily onward, they passed Cape 
Lieber and crossed Lady Franklin Bay. On the 25th of Au- 
gust, while threading among the ice-floes that bordered the 
coast, a herd of musk-oxen were seen browsing on an adjacent 
hill. A shooting party was sent ashore, which separated 
into three parties upon landing and advanced cautiously 
toward the spot where the animals were seen grazing. So 
successful was the hunt that twenty-one hundred and twenty- 
four pounds of fresh meat was the result of the "morning's bag." 

The harbour in which the ships were anchored possessed all 
the necessary qualifications for comfortable winter quarters, 
so that Captain Nares decided to leave the Discovery and 
proceed with the Alert. Everything having been satisfactorily 
arranged, the Alert steamed away from Discovery Harbor 
on the morning of the 26th, pushing her cautious way along 
the west shore of Kennedy Channel. "September 1st 
(1875)," writes Commander Markham, "must always be 
regarded at least by all those connected with, or interested in, 
Arctic research, as a red letter day in the annals of naval 
enterprise, and indeed in English history, for on this day 
a British man-of-war reached a higher northern latitude than 
had ever yet been reached by any ship (82° 25' N., 62° W.), 
and we had the extreme gratification of hoisting the colours 
at noon to celebrate the event." 

After rounding Cape Union, the coast trended away to the 
westward of north, further advance became impossible, and 
the Alert found herself on the bleak shores of the Polar Ocean. 
A more desolate position in which to pass the winter could 
hardly be imagined. 



ALBERT H. MARKHAM, F. R. G. S. 315 

"Without a harbour," writes Markham, "or projecting 
headland of any description to protect our good ship from the 
furious gusts that we must naturally expect, the Alert lay, 
apparently, in a vast frozen ocean, having land on one side, 
but bounded on the other by the chaotic and illimitable 
polar pack." 

After a preliminary sledge journey to ascertain if a more 
sheltered harbour might be sought, it was decided to winter 
in their present position. Preparations were immediately 
made to secure the ship to "Floe-berg Beach," and plans 
were laid out for autumn sledge journeys to deposit caches 
of provisions for the following spring. On the 11th of Sep- 
tember, Markham, Parr, and Egerton, accompanied by 
eighteen men, made a journey northward along the proposed 
route of exploration, for the purpose of advancing two boats 
to be used during future sledging operations. On September 
25, Commander Markham, with Lieutenants Parr and May, 
assisted by members of the crew, set out upon another jour- 
ney ; they reached, October 4, 82° 50' N., off Cape Joseph 
Henry, and a depot was established. The return journey 
became most irksome and laborious. The snow had accu- 
mulated to such a depth as to render some of the ravines and 
promontories almost impassable. A sudden fall in tempera- 
ture produced severe frost-bites. On the 14th of October, in a 
temperature of 25° below zero, the exhausted party reached the 
ship. 

Preparations for the winter having been finished and the 
sledging parties all having returned, there was little left to 
do but await the coming of the sun, which was absent one 
hundred and forty-five days, during which officers and crew 
united in keeping up cheerful spirits and good health by the 
usual exercise, amusements, and routine of daily duties. 

Early in March, 1876, an attempt was made to communi- 
cate with the Discovery. Lieutenants Egerton and Raw- 



316 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

son were selected for this journey and were accompanied by 
Petersen, the Danish interpreter and sledge-driver. On the 
12th of March, in a temperature of 30° below zero, the party 
left the Alert, carrying messages, letters, and instructions to 
those aboard the sister ship. The temperature fell very low 
soon after their departure, and on the third day they unex- 
pectedly returned with the poor Dane utterly prostrate and 
helpless on the sledge. 

"I cannot do better than relate the sad story in Lieutenant 
Egerton's own words," writes Markham. "We read in his 
official report, that not five hours after they had left the ship 
'frost-bites became so numerous, that I thought it advisable 
to encamp.' This was only the beginning of the story, for 
they appear to have passed a comparatively comfortable 
night. At any rate they were up early the next morning 
and again under weigh ; at about one o'clock, when they 
halted for lunch, Petersen complained of cramp in his stomach, 
and was given some hot tea. He had no appetite, which 
perhaps was as well, for we read of the bacon, which is always 
used for lunch : 'We were unable to eat it, being frozen so 
hard that we could not get our teeth through the lean.' They 
still continued their journey, encountering some very rough 
travelling, which necessitated severe physical labour on the 
part of the two officers. 'The dogs were of little or no use in 
getting across these slopes, as it was impossible to get them to 
go up the cliff, and Petersen being unable to work, Lieutenant 
Rawson and I had to get the sledge along as best we could.' 
Towards the end of the day we read : ' Petersen began to 
get rather worse, and was shivering all over, his nose being 
constantly frost-bitten, and at times taking five or ten minutes 
before the circulation could be thoroughly restored. Lieu- 
tenant Rawson had several small frost-bites, and I escaped 
with only one.' 

"On halting for the night," continues Markham, "directly 



ALBERT H. MARKHAM, F. R. G. S. 317 

the tent was pitched, they sent Petersen inside with strict 
injunctions to shift his foot gear and get into his sleeping bag, 
whilst they busied themselves in preparing supper and attend- 
ing to the dogs ; but when they entered the tent they found 
'that he had turned in without shifting his foot gear, was 
groaning a good deal, and complaining of cramp in the 
stomach and legs.' 

"Having made him change, they gave him some tea, and 
then administered a few drops of sal volatile, which appeared 
to give the poor fellow a little ease. The next morning, the 
wind was so high and their patient in such a weak state that 
they did not think it prudent to attempt a start. He had 
passed a very restless night, and still complained very much 
of cramp. Later in the day he appeared to get worse, 'shak- 
ing and shivering all over and breathing in short gasps. His 
face, hands, and feet were all frost-bitten, the latter severely, 
and he had pains in his side as well.' 

"After restoring the circulation they rubbed him with 
warm flannels and placed one of their comforters round his 
stomach. In such a wretched state was the poor fellow that 
they agreed it would endanger his life if they proceeded on 
their journey, and that when the weather moderated, the only 
course they could pursue was to return with all haste to their 
ship. 

"As it was impossible to keep their patient warm in the 
tent, these two young officers burrowed a hole in a snow-drift, 
and into this cavity they transported the sick man, themselves, 
and all their tent robes, closing the aperture by placing over 
it the tent and sledge. They deprived themselves of their 
own clothing for the benefit of the invalid, whose frozen feet 
they actually placed inside their clothes in direct contact 
with their bodies, until their own heat was extracted and they 
were themselves severely frost-bitten in various parts. The 
poor fellow was now in a very low state ; he could retain 



318 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

neither food nor liquid. About 6 p.m. he was very bad ; 
this time worse than before. There appeared to be no heat 
in him of any kind whatever, and he had acute pains in the 
stomach and back. ' We chafed him on the stomach, hands, 
face, and feet, and when he got better wrapped him up in 
everything warm we could lay our hands upon,' namely their 
own clothing, which they could ill afford to lose ; but they 
entirely forgot their own condition in their endeavours to 
ameliorate that of their comrade. Lighting their spirit 
lamp and carefully closing every crevice by which the cold 
air could enter, they succeeded in raising the temperature of 
the interior to 7° ; but 'the atmosphere in the hut became 
somewhat thick.' This was, however, preferable to the 
intense cold. Let us follow the story out, and learn how 
nobly these two officers tended their sick and suffering com- 
panion. ' We were constantly asking if he was warm in his 
feet and hands to which he replied in the affirmative ; but 
before making him comfortable' (fancy being comfortable 
under such circumstances) 'for the night, we examined his 
feet, and found them both perfectly gelid and hard from the 
toes to the ankle, his hands nearly as bad. So each taking a 
foot we set to work to warm them with our hands and flannels, 
as each hand and flannel got cold warming them about our 
persons, and also lit up the spirit lamp. In about two hours 
we got his feet to, and put them in warm foot gear, cut his bag 
down to allow him more room to move in, and then wrapped 
him up in the spare coverlet. His hands we also brought 
round and bound them up in flannel wrappers, with mitts 
over all. Gave him some warm tea and a little rum and water, 
which he threw up. Shortly after I found him eating snow, 
which we had strictly forbidden once or twice before. In 
endeavouring to do this again during the night, he dragged his 
feet out of the covering ; but only a few minutes could have 
elapsed before this was detected by Lieutenant Rawson, who, 



RETURN TO THE SHIP 319 

upon examining his feet found them in much the same state 
as before. We rubbed and chafed them again for over an 
hour, and when circulation was restored wrapped him up 
again, and so passed the third night.' 

" On the following morning Petersen appeared to be slightly 
better, so thinking it was preferable to run the risk of taking 
him back as he was, rather than to pass another such night as 
the last, they put him on the sledge ; and, having hurriedly 
eaten their breakfast, they started for the ship with all de- 
spatch. They had a rough journey before them of eighteen 
miles ; but they knew it was a case of life and death, and they 
encouraged the dogs to their utmost speed. The dogs, being 
homeward bound, were willing enough and needed little 
persuasion, so that, for a time, they rattled along at a good 
pace. But actual progress could not have been very rapid, 
for we read in Egerton's report that the patient's ' circulation 
was so feeble that his face and hands were constantly frost- 
bitten, entailing frequent stoppages whilst we endeavoured to 
restore the affected parts.' The difficulties of the homeward 
journey may be gathered from the following extracts: 'On 
arriving at the Black Cape we had to take the patient off the 
sledge, and while one assisted him round, the other kept the 
dogs back, for by this time they knew they were homeward 
bound, and required no small amount of trouble to hold in. 
After getting the sledge round and restoring Petersen's 
hands and nose (which were almost as bad again a few minutes 
after), and securing him on the sledge, we again set off. At 
the cape the same difficulties were experienced, in fact, 
rather more, for the sledge took a charge down a "ditch," 
about twenty-five feet deep, turning right over three times 
in its descent, and out of which we had to drag it, and while 
clearing harness (which employed us both, one to stand in 
front of the dogs with the whip, while the other cleared the 
lines), the dogs made a sudden bolt past Lieutenant Rawson, 



320 THE GREAT WHITE NOBTH 

who was in front with the whip, and dragged me more than 
a hundred yards before we could stop them. At length, after 
the usual process with Petersen (that of thawing his hands and 
nose, which we did every time we cleared harness, or it was 
actually necessary to stop), we got away, thankful that our 
troubles were over. The dogs got their harness into a dread- 
ful entanglement in their excitement to get home, but we were 
afraid to clear them lest they should break away from us, 
or cause us any delay, as we were both naturally anxious to 
return with the utmost speed to the ship, and so relieve our- 
selves of the serious responsibility occasioned by the very 
precarious state in which our patient was lying. Upon arriv- 
ing alongside at 6 : 30 p.m., we were very thankful that 
Petersen was able to answer us when we informed him he 
was at home.' 

" In conclusion Lieutenant Egerton says: — 

" 'I regret exceedingly that I have been compelled to re- 
turn to the ship without having accomplished my journey to 
H. M. S. Discovery ; but I trust that what I have done will 
meet with your approval, and that the course I adopted may 
be the means of having lessened the very serious and distress- 
ing condition of Petersen.' " 

Poor Petersen never recovered from the effects of his 
terrible experience. He gradually sank and died peacefully, 
on the 14th of May. 

The work of these two brave young officers on this oc- 
casion stands out conspicuously amongst the many deeds of 
daring and devotion with which the annals of Arctic adventure 
abound. Five days after their return to the ship (20th of 
March) the same two officers, accompanied by a couple of 
sailors and a sledge drawn by seven dogs, started once more 
for the Discovery. After five days of a toilsome journey 
rendered all the more' severe by intense cold, they reached the 
ship and were warmly welcomed by her officers and crew. 



RETURN TO THE SHIP 321 

The serious sledging work of the expedition was undertaken 
as early in the season as April 3, in a temperature of 33° 
below zero. Seven sledges under the command of Markham 
and Aldrich and manned by a force of fifty-three officers and 
men started on that day for the long-cherished object of reach- 
ing the Pole and of exploring the northern shores of Grinnell 
Land. "On the second day out," writes Markham, "the 
temperature fell to 45° below zero, or 77° below freezing point. 
The cold then was so intense as to deprive us of sleep, the 
temperature inside the tent being as low as — 25°, the whole 
period of resting being occupied in attempting to keep the 
blood in circulation. Several frost-bites were sustained, 
but they were all attended to in time, and resulted in nothing 
worse than severe and very uncomfortable blisters." 

By the 10th of April the depot of provisions established 
near Cape Joseph Henry during the autumn was found un- 
disturbed. At this point the supporting sledges returned to 
the ship and the two divisions separated and advanced on 
their solitary missions. The northern division under Mark- 
ham, with two heavily laden sledges and seventeen men, 
leaving land pushed straight out into the rugged polar pack. 
Handicapped by the two boats which they carried, and in 
dread of an open polar sea, they advanced, after abandoning 
one of the boats, seventy-three miles, but the advance being 
made with divided loads, more than two hundred seventy-six 
miles was actually covered. Reaching the farthest north up 
to that time, 83° 20' N., 64° W., May 12, 1876, the depleted 
condition of the party and the rugged conditions of the ice- 
floes, forced the gallant Markham to retreat. 

"It is unnecessary to describe," writes Markham, "the 
incidents that occurred on each successive day during the 
return journey. Snow fell heavily, during the greater part 
of the return journey, and fogs were very prevalent. Gales 
of wind had to be endured, for to halt was out of the question 



322 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

— rest there was none — onward was the order of the day. 
As the disease gradually assumed the mastery over the party, 
so did the appetites decrease, and in a very alarming manner, 
until it was with the greatest difficulty that anybody could be 
induced to eat at all. Instead of each man disposing of one 
pound of pemmican a day, the same quantity sufficed for the 
entire party in one tent ; and even this, occasionally, was not 
consumed. Nor was the subject of eating and drinking so 
often discussed. During the outward journey, beefsteaks and 
onions, mutton chops and new potatoes, and Bass's beer, 
formed the chief topics of conversation. On the return jour- 
ney they were scarcely alluded to. Hunger was never felt ; 
but we were all assailed by an intolerable thirst, which could 
only be appeased at meal times, or after the temperature was 
sufficiently high to admit of quenching our thirst by putting 
icicles into our mouths." 

On the 27th of May the condition of the party was so 
critical that it became evident that to insure their reaching 
the ship alive the sledges must be considerably lightened. 
Five men were utterly unable to move, and were consequently 
carried on the sledges, five more were almost as helpless, 
but insisted on hobbling after the sledges. Three others were 
showing decided scorbutic symptoms, leaving' only two 
officers and two men, who could be considered effective. 

Terra firma was reached on May 5, but the party were in 
such a deplorable condition that though only forty miles 
remained between them and the ship their progress was so 
slow that it would take them fully three weeks to cover the 
distance, and by that time who would be left alive ? Assist- 
ance had, therefore, to be obtained. 

"To procure it," writes Commander Markham, "one 
amongst us was ready and willing to set out on this lonely and 
solitary mission with the firm reliance of being able to ac- 
complish what he had undertaken, and with the knowledge 



ALBERT H. MARKHAM, F. E. G. S 323 

that he possessed the full confidence of those for whose relief 
he was about to start on a long and hazardous walk. On the 
7th of June, Lieutenant Parr started on his arduous march to 
the ship. Deep and heartfelt were the God-speeds uttered 
as he took his departure, and anxiously was his retreating 
form watched until it was gradually lost to sight amidst the 
interminable hummocks." 

The following day one of their number died, and was 
buried near by. The saddened and suffering party now left 
this desolate spot and made an attempt to push on toward 
the ship. 

"On the morning of the 9th," writes Markham, "a rainbow 
was seen, which, being an unusual sight, afforded much 
interest. On the same day, shortly after the march had been 
commenced, a moving object was suddenly seen amidst the 
hummocks to the southward. At first it was regarded as an 
optical illusion, for we could scarcely realize the fact that it 
could be anybody from the Alert. With what intense anxi- 
ety this object was regarded is beyond description. Gradu- 
ally emerging from the hummocks, a hearty cheer put an end 
to the suspense that was almost agonizing, as a dog-sledge 
with three men was seen to be approaching. A cheer in 
return was attempted, but so full were our hearts that it re- 
sembled more a wail than a cheer. It is impossible to describe 
our feelings as May and Moss came up, and we received 
from them a warm and hearty welcome. We felt that we were 
saved, and a feeling of thankfulness and gratitude was upper- 
most in our minds, as we shook the hands of those who had 
hurried out to our relief the moment that Parr had conveyed 
to them intelligence of our distress. Those who a few short 
moments before were in the lowest depths of despondency 
appeared now in the most exuberant spirits. Pain was dis- 
regarded and hardships were forgotten as numerous and 
varied questions were asked and answered. 



324 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

"We heard with delight that they were only the vanguard 
of a larger party, headed by Captain Nares himself, that was 
coming out to our relief, and which we should probably 
meet on the following day. A halt was immediately ordered, 
cooking utensils lighted up, ice made into water, and we were 
soon all enjoying a good pannikin full of lime-juice, with the 
prospect of mutton for supper ! " 

On the 14th of June, after seventy-two days of travel and 
hardship, Commander Markham's party reached the Alert. 
Out of fifteen men, one had gone to his long home, eleven 
others were carried alongside the ship on sledges, the remain- 
ing three barely able to hobble aboard. 

"A more thorough break-up of a healthy and strong body 
of men it would be difficult to conceive," comments Markham. 
"Not only had the men engaged in the extended party under 
my command been attacked with scurvy, but also those who 
had been absent from the ship only for short periods, and some 
who may be said never to have left the ship at all, or if they 
did, only for two or three days ! The seeds must have been 
sown during the time, nearly five months, that the sun was 
absent, and we were in darkness." 

The serious condition of the crew of the Alert determined 
Captain Nares to publicly announce on the 16th of June that 
immediately upon the return of the other sledge parties he 
would rejoin the Discovery, transfer all the invalids, and send 
the ship home. The Alert would remain a second winter at 
Port Foulke, and in the spring sledge parties would endeav- 
our to explore Hayes Sound and the adjacent lands, after 
which the Alert would return to England. This cheerful 
news did much to restore the invalids to convalescence, and 
immediately a change for the better was noticed among all 
hands. 

Considerable anxiety was felt, however, for Lieutenant 
Aldrich's party. Although his route was along the coast-line, 



ALBERT R. MAREHAM, F. R. G. S. 325 

and it was hoped that a supply of hares, geese, and perhaps 
musk-oxen might occasionally be secured, every one knew 
that his supply of provisions was all but exhausted, and for the 
purpose of his relief a party of three men under Lieutenant 
May left the ship June 18. 

The intervening time until Sunday, June 25, was one of 
great concern to all on board ; on that day the wanderers 
were seen struggling through the hummocks some six or seven 
miles off. A relief party immediately left the ship and brought 
the men on board. All but two were suffering from scurvy. 
Only Lieutenant Aldrich and two men were able to walk along- 
side the ship^ and one of these was in a critical condition for 
many weeks after. They had been absent from the ship 
eighty-four clays, having explored two hundred twenty 
miles of new coast. Passing Cape Columbia, 83° 07' N., 
Lieutenant Aldrich reached his farthest point on the 18th of 
May, 1876, in 82° 16' N., 86° W., at Cape Alfred Ernst. 

It now became the arduous work of the few members of the 
ship's company who were in good health to minister to the 
numerous invalids, prepare the ship for leaving winter quar- 
ters as soon as the ice would permit, and make hunting trips 
in search of fresh meat, so essential to the cure of scurvy 
patients. 

On the 31st of July, a fresh southwesterly wind had blown 
the pack off the shore, a clear channel of open water to the 
southward was hailed with delight, the throbbing of the en- 
gines told the men that liberation was at hand, and the Alert 
bade farewell to her northern home. Progress was slow, and 
threatened "nips" in the short journey to the Discovery tried 
the patience of the crew, but on August 5, while yet twenty 
miles distant from the sister ship, Rawson and two of the 
men of the Discovery came on board. 

"We were, of course, delighted to see them and to hear 
news of our consort," writes Commander Markham. "From 



326 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

them we learnt that poor Egerton had lost his way, and did 
not arrive on board their ship until after he had been wander- 
ing about for eighteen hours ! The news from the Discovery 
was what we feared. Notwithstanding the large amount of 
musk-ox flesh procured by them during the autumn and 
following summer, scurvy had attacked her crew in almost 
the same virulent manner as it had ours. The return jour- 
neys of some of their sledge parties were simply a repetition 
of our own. Beaumont's division — the one exploring the 
northwestern coast of Greenland — had suffered very severely, 
and we heard with extreme regret that two of his small party 
had succumbed to this terrible disease. The rest of his men, 
with himself and Dr. Coppinger, had not yet returned to the 
Discovery, having remained in Polaris Bay to recruit their 
healths. This was, indeed, a bitter ending to our spring 
campaign, on which we had all set out so full of enthusiasm 
and hope. It had the effect, however, of confirming Captain 
Nares in his resolution to proceed to England." 

The excellent work done by the sledging parties from the 
Discovery may be summed up as follows : Lieutenant Archer 
had made a thorough survey of Archer Fiord ; Dr. Coppinger 
had visited Petermann Fiord, and Lieutenant L. A. Beaumont 
made extensive explorations of the Greenland coast. He 
had travelled to Repulse Harbour, following the coast to 
Cape Bryant, pushing his way across Sherard Osborn Fiord, 
he had left all but one man to recuperate and travelled with 
his single companion as far on the eastern shore as 82° 20' N., 
51° W., which he reached May 20, 1876. The return journey 
was a fight for life against the encroachments of scurvy ; 
a relief party under Lieutenant Rawson and Dr. Coppinger 
saved the party, but two men died at Hall's old quarters at 
Thank God Harbor. 

The two ships now fought the good fight against the ice 
on their homeward journey, boring, charging, and towing as 



TWO VOYAGES OF THE '•"PANDORA" 327 

occasion required. "It was with no small amount of thank- 
fulness," writes Markham, "that on the 9th of September 
we emerged from the cold grim clutches that seemed only too 
ready to detain us for another winter in the realms of the Ice 
King, and that we felt our ship rise and fall once more on the 
bosom of an undoubted ocean swell." 

On the 29th of October, 1876, the two ships reached Queens- 
town, having passed the Pandora in mid-ocean. The two 
voyages of this gallant little ship will now be taken up. 

"The objects of the first voyage of the Pandora in 1875," 
writes Sir Allen Young, "were to visit the western coast of 
Greenland, thence to proceed through Baffin Sea, Lancaster 
Sound, and Barrow Strait, towards the Magnetic Pole, and 
if practicable to navigate through the Northwest Passage to 
the Pacific Ocean in one season. As, in following this route, 
the Pandora would pass King William Island, it was proposed, 
if successful in reaching that locality, in the summer season 
when the snow was off the land, to make a search for further 
records and for the journals of the ships Erebus and Terror." 

The Pandora was rigged as a barkentine, and carried 
eight boats, including a steam cutter and three whale-boats. 
Her officers and crew numbered thirty-one men, with Captain 
Young in command. The expenses of the expedition, and the 
purchase and equipment of the Pandora, were undertaken by 
Sir Allen Young, assisted by contributions from Lady Franklin 
and Mr. James Gordon Bennett, who was second in command. 

On the 27th of June, 1875, the Pandora sailed from Plym- 
outh, and by July 19, stood in latitude 58° 58' N., longitude 
31° 33' W.; by the 28th of July the first icebergs were en- 
countered. The following day they saw the first Spitsbergen 
ice. At noon the same day the land about Cape Desolation 
could be plainly seen whenever the fog lifted. 

Soon after they stood off the entrance of Arsuk Fiord ; 
this coast is the West Bygd of the ancient Norse colonizers of 



328 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Greenland, and near Arsuk was the old Norse church of Stein- 
nals. "The whole coast," writes Captain Young, "from 
S. E. to N. N. E. stood before us like a panorama, and the sea 
so calm, and everything so still and peaceful, excepting now 
and then the rumbling of an overturning berg, or the distant 
echo of the floes as they pressed together to seaward of us, 
that it almost seemed like a transition to some other world." 

At Irigtut, where the Pandora put in to coal, Captain 
Young had the pleasure of visiting his old ship, the Fox. 
At Irigtut also are located the famous cryolite mines, dis- 
covered by the Danish missionaries who first sent specimens 
to Copenhagen as ethnographical curiosities. The cryolite 
is found near the shore, resting immediately upon gneiss. 
The purest is of snow-white colour, the grayish white variety 
being second in quality. It much resembles ice which has 
been curved and grooved by the action of the sun's rays ; its 
component parts are double hydrofluate of soda and alumina. 
It melts like ice in the flame of a candle, and it is used princi- 
pally for making soda, also for preparing aluminum. 

The Pandora was highly favoured by the singularly open 
condition of Melville Bay ; bergs proved plentiful, but no 
dreaded ice-floe impeded her progress. A change in the ice 
conditions was first noticeable while off the Cary Islands. 
And upon leaving the islands and proceeding toward Lancaster 
Sound, the Pandora fell in with the ice the 20th of August 
while lying about thirty miles east of Cape Horsburgh. 

"Three bears being seen on the ice," writes Captain 
Young, "I went away in the second cutter with Pirie and Bey- 
nen, and after shooting the old she-bear and one cub we suc- 
ceeded in getting a rope around the larger cub and towing him 
to the ship. Now began a most lively scene. The bear was 
almost full grown, and it was with some difficulty we got him 
on board and tied down the ring-bolts with his hind legs se- 
cured ; and notwithstanding this rough treatment he showed 



TWO VOYAGES OF THE "PANDORA" 329 

most wonderful energy in trying to attack any one who came 
within reach, and especially our dogs, who seemed to delight 
in trying his temper. He was at last secured on the quarter 
deck with a chain round his neck and under his fore arms, and 
soon began to feed ravenously on — I am sorry to have to 
write it — his own mother, who was speedily cut up and pieces 
of her flesh thrown to my new shipmate. I hope that he 
was only an adopted child, and the great difference between 
him and the other cub warranted this supposition, as, being 
three times the size of the other, he could not have been of the 
same litter." A few days later we read, "Our new shipmate, 
the bear, made desperate struggles to get over the rail into the 
sea, but the chain was tightened, and at last he went to sleep." 

On the 23d of August, a barrier of ice across Lancaster 
Sound obliged Captain Young to retrace his steps. Snow, 
sleet, and wind prevailed as they scudded onward, an ice 
blink frequently ahead ; then the inevitable floe in streams 
and loose pieces, with the sea dashing over them as they 
flew between. 

"While we were in this situation," Captain Young observes, 
"our bear gradually worked himself into a state of frantic 
excitement — getting up to the rail, — watching the floe-ice 
rapidly dashing past our side — and in his attempts to get 
over the bulwarks, he released his chain until it was evident 
that in a few moments he would be free, whether to dive over- 
board or to run amuck among the watch appeared a question 
of doubt. The alarm being given by Pirie, who was writing 
up the deck log, the watch was called to secure the bear, and I 
fear that during the half hour which elapsed the ship was left, 
more or less, to take care of herself. The whole watch, 
besides Pirie with a revolver and myself with a crowbar, 
assaulted the unfortunate Bruin, whose frantic struggles and 
endeavours to attack every one within reach were quite as 
much as we could control. He was loose, but by a fortunate 



330 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

event a running noose was passed round his neck, and the 
poor brute was hauled down to a ring-bolt until we could se- 
cure the chain round his neck and body. I had hitherto no 
conception of the strength of these animals, and especially of 
the power of their jaws. Fearing that the iron crowbar might 
injure his teeth, I jammed a mop handle into his mouth while 
the others were securing his chain, and he bit it completely 
through. At last Bruin gave in, and beyond an occasional 
struggle to get loose, and a constant low growling, he gave us 
no further trouble. I ought to mention that in the midst of 
the scrimmage the Doctor was called up to give him a dose of 
opium, in the hope of subduing him by this means ; but 
having succeeded in getting him to swallow a piece of blubber 
saturated with chloroform and opium sufficient to kill a dozen 
men, our Bruin did not appear to have experienced the 
slightest effect, and the Doctor, who volunteered to remain up, 
and expressed some anxiety as to the bear's fate, retired 
below somewhat disappointed." 

Making Barrow Strait for the purpose of reaching Beechey 
Island, the Pandora pursued her course, in fog and snow ; 
Beechey Island was reached on the 25th. Going on shore, 
Captain Young and two officers inspected the state of pro- 
visions and boats at Northumberland House. It will be 
remembered that Northumberland House was built by 
Commander Pullen of the North Star, which wintered there 
in 1852-1853 and 1853-1854, as a depot for Sir Edward 
Belcher's expedition. The house was built in the fall of 1852, 
of the lower masts and spars from the American whaler 
McLellan, which had been crushed in the ice in Melville Bay 
in 1852. 

Captain Young found that the house had been stove in at 
the door and sides, by the wind and by bears, and almost 
everything light and movable had been blown out or dragged 
out by the bears, which had also torn up all the tops of the 



TWO VOYAGES OF THE "PANDORA" 331 

bales, and scattered the contents in all directions. The house 
was nearly full of ice and snow frozen so hard as to necessitate 
the use of pick-axe and crowbar before anything could be 
moved. Tea-chests and beef casks had been broken open and 
the contents scattered or devoured. The place presented a 
scene of ruin and confusion, although there were no traces of 
the place having been visited by human beings since the 
departure of Sir Leopold M'Clintock in the Fox, the 14th of 
August, 1853. 

A cask of rum had remained intact, "a conclusive proof 
to my mind," writes Captain Young, "that neither Eskimo 
nor British sailor had entered that way." The boats, however, 
were found in good condition, and had escaped the ravages 
of time and wild animals. 

Weighing anchor the Pandora stood to the southward for 
Peel Strait. Captain Young visited a cairn in which a record 
had been placed by Captain James C. Ross, 7th of June, 1849. 

An attempt was made to push through to Bellot Strait, 
but the fast closing in of the ice determined Captain Young 
to retreat and abandon his cherished hope of making the 
Northwest Passage this year. A race with the ice to Cape 
Rennell and a second visit to the Cary Islands resulted in 
finding a record left there by the Alert and Discovery, which 
brought glad tidings to friends at home. By the 11th of 
September, the Pandora sighted Cape Dudley Digges, about 
ten miles distant, "the wind freshening to a gale, with a high 
flowing sea, which froze as it lapped our sides." 

Cape York was passed the next day. A stormy passage 
continued to harass them until the 19th, when the Pandora 
reached the harbour of Godhaven. After a four days' stay 
at Godhaven, she continued in her course ; on the 1st of 
October she stood southward of the cape, steering direct for 
the English Channel, and anchored at Spithead, the 16th of 
October, 1875. 



332 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The Pandora put to sea on her second voyage from the 
Southampton Docks, May 17, 1876, for the double purpose of 
making another attempt to sail through Peel and Franklin 
straits, and navigate the coast of North America to Behring 
Strait, and to carry out the instructions of the British 
Admiralty in an attempt to communicate with the Alert 
and Discovery, at Littleton Island or Cape Isabella. Proceed- 
ing under sail, she reached Godhaven by the 7th of July. 

Here desolation and gloom seemed to overwhelm the little 
settlement, owing to the storehouse having burned and con- 
sumed the entire winter's production of oil and blubber, some 
two hundred barrels, as well as all the store belonging to the 
United States Polaris expedition. Such a disaster to the 
poor Greenlanders was quite as great a catastrophe as the 
burning of half of London would be to a Britisher. However, 
a cordial welcome awaited Captain Young from the hospitable 
natives, and, " In fact," he writes, "we thoroughly enjoyed our 
stay in port, and all made great friends with the Greenlanders. 
The only drawback was caused by the quantities of the most 
venomous mosquitoes I ever saw, and they did their very best 
thoroughly to torment us. I never in any climate knew such 
a pest as we found these Greenland mosquitoes, for wherever 
we went, either on shore or in a boat, and even on board ship, 
they followed us persistently, and at whatever hour, night or 
day, it was always the same. I was this time more bitten 
than I ever was before. My head and hands were completely 
swollen, and one of my eyes shut up." 

On the 11th of July, the Pandora steamed out of Godhaven, 
in the direction of Waigat, making a brief stop at Njaragsugs- 
suk, and putting in for coal at Kudliest. By the 16th, she 
stood off Hare Island, and two days later was running under 
canvas towards Upernavik. Leaving on the 19th, the ship 
proceeded slowly through a dense fog toward Brown Island. 
The Duck Islands were passed on the 21st, the fog again 



TWO VOYAGES OF THE "PANDORA" 333 

made progress extremely difficult, and the complications of 
thousands of icebergs, of every conceivable form and shape, 
intermingled with the drifting floes of ice, almost blocked the 
way to the north. 

The following days were passed in the greatest anxiety 
by Captain Young. The Pandora was beset in the ice-pack 
of Melville Bay, and in spite of blasting with gunpowder 
all around her, where the pressure was greatest, the enormous 
icebergs driving through towards her position threatened her 
destruction at any moment. 

On the 29th of July, a frightful storm disrupted the pack, 
and, after twenty-four hours of uncertainty and danger, the 
Pandora steamed her way, inch by inch, yard by yard, into the 
open sea. " Cheers burst spontaneously from the crew as we 
launched out into the ocean and made all sail to a fair wind 
from the S. W." 

The "North Water " at last, with the whole season ahead and 
a straight course for Cape York and the Cary Islands ; a brief 
stop to examine the Pandora's depot of the previous year, and 
by August 2 the ship was passing west of Hakluyt Island. A 
stop was made at Sutherland Island for the purpose of finding 
any despatches from Captain Nares that may have been left 
there, but only Captain Hartstein's record was found, left 
there August 16, 1855, when he touched at this point in his 
search for Dr. Kane. 

At Littleton Island, which was reached August 3, Captain 
Young was more successful, and a record written July 28, 1875, 
and left there by Captain Nares, gave full information of the 
British expedition up to that date. As it was evident that 
no sledging party had touched at that point in the spring, 
Captain Young's mission was over, and he turned his atten- 
tion to the main object of his voyage, that of attempting the 
Northwest Passage via Peel Strait, previous to which, however, 
he made an examination of the bays and inlets between Little- 
ton Island and Cape Alexander. 



334 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Touching at Cape Isabella, Lieutenants Arbuthnot and 
Becker landed and found a second communication from Cap- 
tain Nares, left there July 29, 1875. Letters for the Alert and 
Discovery and a record of the Pandora's visit were deposited 
at this point. A second attempt to reach Cape Isabella for 
the purpose of a more thorough examination of a cask, 
described by the first landing party, and supposed by Captain 
Young to contain letters or despatches, resulted in the 
Pandora's spending three weeks in a struggle with the ice 
for an approach. When Cape Isabella was finally reached, 
after days of delay and disappointment, the cask which had 
caused so much anxiety and interest was found to be empty. 

So much time had been lost in the disappointing effort to 
reach Cape Isabella, that the season was far advanced, and the 
Pandora found herself in a most critical position in the ice- 
pack. To proceed northward had become out of the question 
by the 27th of August, and furious storms literally drove the 
ship out of Smith Strait to the southward. Captain Young's 
personal disappointment at the turn of affairs was only sur- 
passed by the disappointment of the crew, who, after the buf- 
feting and danger of their recent experience, showed an eager- 
ness to risk passing a winter in some snug harbour. The pack 
gradually receded as the Pandora made her way toward Hak- 
luyt Island, and the way was clear for an immediate return to 
England. The only important incident of the return voyage 
was the meeting with the Alert and Discovery in latitude 54° 
38' N., longitude 44° 30' W. The gallant little Pandora, 
continuing in her course, made Portsmouth harbour on the 
3d of November, 1876. 

Following in chronological order the interesting voyages 
of the Pandora, but of a totally different character was the 
remarkable land journey of over two thousand eight hun- 
dred nineteen geographical miles by Lieutenant Schwatka, 
U. S. A., with W. H. Gilder, in the years of 1878-1879, 



SCHWATKA" 8 SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN RECORDS 335 

undertaken for the purpose of discovering the Franklin 
records, should they still exist on King William Land, or in 
the vicinity of the route taken by the survivors of the Erebus 
and Terror. 

Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka was of Polish descent, 
American by birth, and had served with distinction in the 
Third Cavalry. His daring and courage led him to a desire 
for Arctic adventure, and, having secured leave of absence 
from the government and the support of the National Geo- 
graphic Society, he left New York on the 19th of June, 1878, 
in the Esther, with four companions, under the following 
instructions : — 

"Upon your arrival at Repulse Bay, you will prepare for 
your inland journey by building your sledges and taking such 
provisions as are necessary. As soon as sufficient snow is on 
the ground, you will start for King William Land and the Gulf 
of Boothia. Take daily observations, and whenever you 
discover any error in any of the charts, you will correct the 
same. Whenever you shall make any new discoveries, you 
will mark the same on the charts ; and important discoveries 
I desire to be named after the Hon. Charles P. Daly and his 
estimable wife, Mrs. Maria Daly. Any records you may think 
necessary for you to leave on the trip, at such places as you 
think best, you will mark 'Esther Franklin Arctic Search 
Party, Frederick Schwatka in command ; date, longitude, 
and latitude ; to be directed to the President of the National 
Geographic Society, New York, United States of America. 
Should you be fortunate in finding the records, remains, 
or relics of Sir John Franklin or his unfortunate party, as I 
have hopes you will, you will keep them in your or Joe's con- 
trol, and the contents thereof shall be kept secret, and no part 
thereof destroyed, tampered with, or lost. Should you find 
the remains of Sir John Franklin or any of his party, you will 
take the same, have them properly taken care of, and bring 



336 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

them with you. The carpenter of the Esther will, before you 
start on your sledge journey, prepare boxes necessary for the 
care of relics, remains, or records, should you discover the 
same. Whatever you may discover or obtain, you will deliver 
to Captain Thomas F. Barry, or whoever shall be in command 
of the schooner Esther or such vessel as may be despatched 
for you. You are now provisioned for eighteen months 
for twelve men. I shall next spring send more provisions to 
you, so that in the event of your trip being prolonged, you shall 
not want for any of the necessaries of life. You will be careful 
and economical with your provisions, and will not let any- 
thing be wasted or destroyed. Should the expedition for 
which it is intended prove a failure, make it a geographical 
success, as you will be compelled to travel over a great deal 
of unexplored country." 

Winter quarters were established at Camp Daly on the 
shore ice of Hudson Bay, and intercourse kept up among the 
natives of Chesterfield Inlet, for the purpose of enlisting their 
support on the sledge journeys planned for the spring and to 
secure all available information regarding Sir John Franklin 
or his unfortunate crew. 

By the 1st of April, the sledge party started on the long 
march towards King William Land. Lieutenant Schwatka 
was accompanied by the original party of four white men 
and fourteen Eskimos. The sleds were drawn by forty-two 
dogs ; the loads aggregated about five thousand pounds on the 
day of starting, consisting largely of walrus meat for the 
dogs, a liberal equipment of guns, ammunition, and articles of 
trade, besides the following list of provisions : — 

lbs. 

Hard bread 500 

Pork 200 

Compressed corned beef 200 

Corn starch 80 




From a portrait in the possession of A. Operti, Esq. 
Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka. 



SCHIVATKAS SEARCH FOR FRAXKLIN RECORDS 337 

lbs. 

Oleomargarine 40 

Cheese . 40 

Coffee 40 

Tea 5 

Molasses 20 

This, it will be seen, was only about one month's rations for 
seventeen people, and was, in fact, nearly exhausted by the 
time the party reached King William Land. Dependence 
was placed on the hunting and abundance of game; five hun- 
dred and twenty-two reindeer, besides musk-oxen, polar bears, 
and seals were secured in the course of the entire journey. 

Travelling overland to the Back River, the party experi- 
enced all the fatigues incident to sledge progress, especially 
the Americans, who, unaccustomed to long marches, suffered 
greatly from blistered feet and muscular soreness. The 
country seemed alive with game, and on the 11th of May 
seven reindeer were killed and on the 13th as many as nine. 

The northern shore of the Back River is bounded by high 
hills, almost a mountain range, and inland could be seen rocky 
hills piled together, barren and forbidding. About noon on 
the 14th, the party came upon some freshly cut blocks of snow 
turned up on end, — a sure sign of natives in the vicinity, — 
and farther on footprints in the snow as well as a cache of 
musk-ox*meat. Following the tracks after breaking camp the 
next day, the party soon reached several igloos, and communi- 
cation was immediately established with the inhabitants. 
The chief spokesman was anOkjoolik, who with his family com- 
prised all that was left of the tribe which formerly occupied 
the western coast of Adelaide Peninsula and King William 
Land. From this interesting and important witness much 
information about the Franklin party was gained. When 
quite a little boy he had seen some white men alive, and from 
the description it might have been Lieutenant Back and his 



338 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

party. Years later, he saw a white man dead in the bunk 
of a big ship, which was frozen in near an island about five 
miles west of Grant Point on Adelaide Peninsula. He and his 
son had seen the tracks of white men on the mainland. The 
natives had boarded the ship at intervals, and, not knowing 
how to use the doors, had cut a hole in the side on a level 
with the ice and entered for the purpose of stealing wood 
and iron. In the following spring, the ship had filled with 
water and sunk. There were evidences that people had lived 
aboard the ship, as some cans of fresh meat mixed with tallow 
were found. There were knives, forks, spoons, pans, cups, 
and plates aboard, and afterwards a few articles were found 
on shore after the vessel had gone down. 

Another native described seeing two boats on the Back 
River containing white men, and he also saw a stone monu- 
ment on Montreal Island containing a pocket knife, a pair of 
scissors, and some fish hooks, but no papers of any description. 

After an encampment of two days and a half, Lieutenant 
Schwatka continued his journey accompanied by some of 
these natives as guides. 

In native encampments beyond Ogle Point and Richardson 
Point, an old woman was found who proved an interesting 
witness ; she had been one of a party who had met some of the 
survivors of the Erebus and Terror on Washington Bay. She 
described seeing ten white men dragging a sledge with a boat 
on it. The Innuits encamped near the white men and stayed 
in their company about five days. The natives had killed 
some seals which they shared with the white men. In return, 
the old woman's husband had been given a knife and other 
articles now lost. The white men looked very thin, and their 
mouths were dry and hard and black. The natives moved 
on, but the white men could not keep up with them, and 
remained behind. The following spring, the old woman had 
seen a tent standing on the shore at the head of Terror Bay. 



schwatka' s search for franklin records 339 

In it were dead bodies, and outside were others covered with 
sand. There was no flesh on them, — nothing but bones and 
clothes. About the tent were knives, forks, spoons, watches, 
and many books, besides clothing and other personal articles. 

Lieutenant Schwatka visited the cairn erected by Captain 
Hall over the bones of two of Franklin's men, near the Pfeffer 
River; a few relics were gathered up in the vicinity of Ade- 
laide Peninsula, one a bunk fixture with the initials "L. F." 
in brass tacks upon it. 

CapeHerschel, on King William Island, was reached in June. 
Lieutenant Schwatka made a thorough examination of the 
western shore of the island as far as Cape Felix. At Cape 
Jane Franklin, Captain Crozier's camp was found, where the 
entire company of the two abandoned ships had remained 
some time ; strewn about were many relics of the party and 
the grave of Lieutenant Irving. Gilt buttons were found 
among the rotting cloth and mould at the bottom of the grave, 
and upon one of the stones at the foot of the grave was found 
a silver medal, two and a half inches in diameter, with a bas- 
relief portrait of George IV surrounded by the words — 

Georgius IIII, D. G. Brittanniarum 
Rex, 1820 

and on the reverse a laurel wreath surrounded by 

Second Mathematical Prize, Royal 
Naval College 
and inclosing 

Awarded to John Irving, 
Midsummer, 1830. 

The remains of Lieutenant Irving were brought home for 
burial in Edinburgh. 



340 THE GBEAT WHITE NOBTH 

The record deposited by M'Clintock on the 3d of June, 
1859, was also found ; much of it was illegible, and the cairn 
in which it had been deposited had been destroyed by natives. 

The return from King William Land was started Septem- 
ber 19. It will be remembered that for months the party 
had subsisted entirely on game found in the locality, that 
their original supply of provisions had lasted a little more 
than thirty days, and that the return was in the face of the 
fast approaching winter. Fortunately, reindeer were seen 
daily in immense herds. 

"We cut quantities of reindeer tallow with our meat," 
remarks Gilder, "probably about half our daily food. Break- 
fast is eaten raw and frozen, but we generally have a warm 
meal in the evening. Fuel is hard to obtain, and consists 
entirely of a vine-like moss called ik-shoot-ik. Reindeer tal- 
low is also used for a light. A small flat stone serves for 
candle-stick, on which a lump of tallow is placed, close to a 
piece of fibrous moss called mun-ne, which is used for a wick. 
The tallow melting runs down upon the stone and is immedi- 
ately absorbed by the moss. This makes a very cheerful and 
pleasant light, but is most exasperating to a hungry man, 
as it smells exactly like frying meat. Eating such quantities 
of tallow is a great benefit in this climate, and we can easily see 
the effect of it in the comfort with which we meet the cold." 

Directing his course toward the Great Fish-Back River, 
Lieutenant Schwatka began its ascent in November. The 
cold was intense, from 20° to 70° below zero. 

"We found the travelling on Back's River much more te- 
dious than we had anticipated," writes Gilder, "owing to the 
bare ice in the vicinity of the open-water rapids and the in- 
tense cold which kept the air filled with minute particles of 
ice from the freezing of the steam of the open water." 

On December 28, 1878, Lieutenant Schwatka decided to 
abandon travel on the Great Fish-Back River, owing to the 



SCHWATKAS SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN RECORDS 341 

scarcity of game in the vicinity. The Innuit hunters having 
reported the land sledging in good condition toward the 
southeast, — indeed, much better than upon the river, — and 
indications pointing to an abundance of game in that direc- 
tion, the party immediately struck out for Depot Island. 

The extreme cold experienced at this period of the journey 
was trying beyond expression, and had a serious effect upon 
man and beast. Even iron and wood were affected, strong 
oak and hickory breaking to the touch like icicles. It was a 
matter of great difficulty to keep the guns in working order, 
and the wary game would hear the sound of the crunching of 
the hunters' tread on the snow at long distances. 

"I have frequently heard," remarks Gilder, "the crunch- 
ing of the sled runners on the brittle snow — a ringing sound 
like striking bars of steel — a distance of over two miles." 

The mean temperature for December was —50.4° Fahren- 
heit, the lowest —69° ; on January 3 the thermometer fell 
to the lowest point experienced by Lieutenant Schwatka's 
party, and stood at —70° in the morning and —91° at five 
o'clock in the afternoon. The party had long been with- 
out the fatty food so essential to retain bodily warmth 
in these fearful temperatures, and the dogs, although fed 
upon frozen reindeer meat, which, however, has but little 
nourishment in it in that state for cold weather, began to 
sicken and die. The small amount of blubber now remaining 
only served for lighting the igloos at night, and a cooked meal 
could only be indulged in on days when the party remained 
in camp and could gather moss for fuel. To add to the general 
misery under which the return journey was continued, wolves 
were frequently met with, so ravenous and bold that they at- 
tacked the dogs for the purpose of eating the meat thrown 
out to them. On another occasion : — 

"Toolooah was out hunting on the 23d of February," 
writes Gilder, "when a pack of about twenty wolves at- 



342 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

tacked him. He jumped upon a big rock, which was soon 
surrounded, and there he fought the savage beasts off with the 
butt of his gun until he got a sure shot, when he killed one, 
and while the others fought over and devoured the carcass, 
he made the best of the opportunity to get back into camp. 
It was a most fortunate escape, as he fully realized." 

Two days later, the same hunter, while following a reindeer 
not far from camp, was surprised to meet another Innuit, 
whom he found to be an acquaintance ; from this man he 
learned that Depot Island was about three days' journey off. 
Returning to camp with this happy intelligence, it was decided 
to push on and lighten the sledges at the igloo of this native 
the following day, and then by forced marches reach Depot 
Island as soon as possible. 

The prospect of finding ships in the harbour, with news 
from home and friends, did much to revive the hope and 
spirits of the jaded party, and when, as they approached their 
destination, friendly natives were encountered, their joy 
and emotion knew no bounds. But though their reception 
among the Innuits had been warm and hearty, their joy was 
tempered with disappointment to find that the only ship in the 
bay was at Marble Island, and that Captain Barry of the 
Esther had failed to deposit at Depot Island a thousand 
pounds of bread and other provisions belonging to Lieutenant 
Schwatka upon which he had depended. This failure to 
keep a promise resulted in the party of twenty-two hungry 
travellers and nineteen starving dogs being forced upon the 
hospitality of the natives, and in less than a week famine 
existed in camp, and the situation became desperate. Storms 
had prevented the hunting of walrus and seal, until the eighth 
day after their arrival. In the meantime, Lieutenant 
Schwatka with two companions had pushed on to Marble 
Island for assistance. All they had to eat was a little 
walrus blubber, and in a forced march of twenty-four hours 



SCHWATKA'S SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN BECORDS 343 

they covered seventy-five miles. The desperate situation in 
the settlement at Depot Island is described by Gilder as 
follows : — 

''People spoke to each other in whispers, and everything 
was quiet, save the never-ceasing and piteous cries of the 
hungry children begging for food which their parents could 
not give them. Most of the time I stayed in bed, trying to 
keep warm and to avoid exercise that would only make me 
all the more hungry." 

Four days later, the hunters were successful in killing a 
walrus, and this timely relief enabled the members of Schwat- 
ka's party to continue their journey to Marble Island. On 
the first day out, they met a native with relief for the camp. 
On Saturday, March 21, 1880, the ship George and Mary was 
reached, where a warm welcome awaited them from Captain 
Baker. When freed from the ice in the spring, this ship 
carried the explorers back to civilization. 

It will be remembered that, during the entire journey, 
the reliance for food for man and beast was solely upon the 
resources of the country, that the white men lived exclusively 
upon the same fare as the Eskimos, and that the return 
sledge journey was accomplished during an Arctic winter 
acknowledged to be of exceptional severity by the natives. 
To Lieutenant Schwatka's excellent management, and thor- 
ough fitness for his position as commander, was due the suc- 
cess of the expedition. 

"All our movements were conducted in the dull, methodi- 
cal, business-like manner of an army on the march," writes 
Gilder. "Every contingency was calculated upon and pro- 
vided for beforehand, so that personal adventures were al- 
most unknown or too trivial to mention." 

The results of this remarkable journey are summed up 
in a leading English newspaper published September 25, 1880. 

"Lieutenant Schwatka has now dissolved the last doubts 



344 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

that could have been felt about the fate of the Franklin 
expedition. He has traced the one untraced ship to its 
grave beyond the ocean, and cleared the reputation of a 
harmless people from an undeserved reproach. He has 
given to the unburied bones of the crews probably the only 
safeguard against desecration by wandering wild beasts and 
heedless Eskimos, which that frozen land allowed. He 
has brought home for reverent sepulture, in a kindlier soil, 
the one body which bore transport. Over the rest he has set 
up monuments to emphasize the undying memory of their 
sufferings and their exploits. He has gathered tokens by 
which friends and relatives may identify their dead, and re- 
visit in imagination the spots in which the ashes lie. Lastly, 
he has carried home with him material evidence to complete 
the annals of Arctic exploration." 




From a portrait in the possession of A. Operti, Esq. 
W. H. Gilder 



CHAPTER XVIII 

The Jeannette expedition, 1879-1881. — In command of Captain 
George W. De Long. — Leaves San Francisco, touches at Ouna- 
laska, August 2, reaches Lawrence Bay, East Siberia, Au- 
gust 15. — Last seen by whale bark Sea Breeze near Herald 
Island, September 2. — The Jeannette beset in ice-pack, Sep- 
tember 5, never again released. — Daily routine of officers 
and crew. — Ship springs a leak. — A frozen summer. — Sight 
of new land. — A second winter in the pack. — The Jeannette 
crushed. — Abandonment. — The retreat. — The fate of the 
three boats. — Death of De Long's party. — Melville's search. 

The American Arctic expedition of 1879, commanded by 
Lieutenant George W. De Long of the United States Navy, 
was equipped and financed by Mr. James Gordon Bennett, 
proprietor of the New York Herald. The object of the 
expedition was to reach the North Pole by way of Behring 
Strait. 

The bark-rigged steam yacht of four hundred twenty 
tons, Pandora, which had already seen considerable service in 
Arctic water, was purchased from Sir Allen Young. By 
special act of Congress she was allowed to sail under American 
colours, be navigated by officers of the United States Navy, 
and to change her name from Pandora to Jeannette. The 
Jeannette was reenforced and refitted for the arduous service 
expected of her, and her officers and crew, thirty-three in num- 
ber, carefully selected for their especial fitness for the under- 
taking . 

AtLjng the number, Lieutenant De Long and Lieutenant 
Chipp, the executive officer, had seen Arctic service while 

345 



3-16 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

attached to the U. S. steamer Juanita, which had been sent by 
the government in search of the Polaris in 1873 ; Engineer 
Melville had been attached to the Tigress, while that ship had 
been on the same errand, and Seaman Wm. F. C. Nindemann 
had sailed on the Polaris and been a member of the ice-drift 
party. 

Lieutenant John W. Danenhower, U. S. N., was appointed 
navigator; Dr. J. M. Ambler, surgeon; Jerome J. Collins, 
meteorologist; Raymond L. Newcomb, naturalist; and 
William M. Dunbar, ice pilot. 

The Jeannette left San Francisco July 8, and moved slowly 
toward the Golden Gate amid the cheers and waving of hand- 
kerchiefs from thousands of spectators on the wharves and 
on Telegraph Hill. A salute of ten guns was fired from Fort 
Point, while a convoy of white-sailed craft of the San Francisco 
Yacht Club escorted her out to the broad Pacific. Pursuing 
her course, the Jeannette made for Ounalaska, one of the Aleu- 
tian Islands, which she reached August 2. There additional 
stores were taken aboard, and four days later she pursued her 
course, to St, Michaels, Alaska, where she anchored the 12th 
of August. Dogs and fur clothing were purchased, and two 
Alaskans, Anequin and Alexai, were hired to accompany the 
expedition as dog drivers. By the 25th of August, she had 
reached St. Lawrence Bay, East Siberia, where Lieutenant 
De Long learned that a ship supposed to be the Vega had gone 
south in June. She then rounded East Cape and touched 
at Cape Serdze, from which point Lieutenant De Long sent 
his last letter home. 

Captain Barnes of the American whale bark Sea Breeze saw 
the Jeannette under full sail and steam, on the 2d of September, 
1879, about fifty miles south of Herald Island ; on the 3d of 
September she was sighted by Captain Kelley of the bark 
Dawn; and at about the same time Captain Bauldry of the 
Helen Mar and several other whalers saw smoke from the 



THE "JEANNETTE" EXPEDITION, 1879-1881 347 

Jeannette's smoke-stack in range of Herald Island. She was 
standing north. These were the last tidings heard of the 
expedition by the outside world for over two years. 

On the 5th of September, the Jeannette, having boldly entered 
the ice in an attempt to push through and winter at Herald 
Island or Wrangell Land, was beset and never again left the 
ice-pack, but drifted at the mercy of this formidable foe, until 
she was crushed, and finally sank many months afterward. 

Hoping against hope that a release would come, first in 
the fall with the promise of Indian summer, then in the spring 
with the breaking up of the ice-pack, Captain De Long saw 
the weeks and months glide by, and followed the complicated 
drift of the Jeannette, as she coquetted with her jailer, turning 
and twisting in her course, suffering the constant pressure of 
her enemy, that hourly threatened her destruction and pur- 
suing an uneven drift north and eastward. 

The daily routine during the long imprisonment was prac- 
tically as follows : — 

6 a.m. Call executive officer. 

7 a.m. Call ship's cook. 
8:30 a.m. Call all hands. 

9 a.m. Breakfast by watches. 

10 a.m. Turn to, clear fire-hole of ice, fill barrels with 

snow, clean up decks. 

11 a.m. Clear forecastle. All hands take exercise on the 

ice. 
11 :30 a.m. Inspection by executive officer. 

12 m. Get soundings. 

1 p.m. One watch may go below. 

2 p.m. Fill barrels with snow. Clear fire-hole of ice. 

3 p.m. Dinner by watches. 

4 p.m. Galley fires out. Carpenter and boatswain re- 

port departments to executive officer. 



348 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

7 : 30 p.m. Supper by watches. 

10 p.m. Pipe down. Noise and smoking to cease in fore- 

castle, and all lights to be put out, except one 
burner of bulkhead lantern. Man on watch 
report to the executive. 
During the night the anchor watch will ex- 
amine the fires and lights every half hour, and 
see that there is no danger from fire. All 
buckets will be kept on the starboard side of 
the quarter-deck, ready for use in case of fire. 

This programme was varied only as contingencies arose ; 
by threatening disaster from ice pressure ; by the chase of 
bears ; the capture of walrus and seals ; or by hunting parties 
who travelled over the ice in search of game, or took a daily 
run with the dogs. 

"Wintering in the pack," comments De Long, "may be a 
thrilling thing to read about alongside a warm fire in a com- 
fortable home, but the actual thing is sufficient to make any 
man prematurely old." 

On January 19, 1880, owing to serious convulsions of the 
ice, the Jeannette sprung a leak. The deck pumps were at 
once rigged and manned, and steam raised on the port boiler 
to run the steam pumps. This last caused great difficulty 
and delay, owing to the temperature in the fire-room being 
— 29°, the sea-cocks being frozen, which necessitated pouring 
buckets of water through the man-hole plates, before the 
pumps could be operated. Through Melville's indomitable 
energy, the pumps were effective by afternoon. Though all 
hands worked until midnight, the serious situation was only 
partially controlled, the men working knee-deep in ice water, 
Nindemann standing down in the fore-peak, stuffing oakum 
and tallow in every place from which water came. Under the 
direction of Lieutenant Chipp, a bulkhead was built forward 



CAPTAIN GEORGE W. BE LONG 349 

of the foremast, which partially confined the water. In the 
meantime, Melville, working night and day, rigged an economi- 
cal pump with the Baxter boiler, with which the ship was 
pumped for nearly eighteen months. 

Lieutenant Danenhower, who had been suffering for some 
time with his eyes, had become totally incapacitated for ser- 
vice, and on the 22d of January submitted to an operation 
performed by Dr. Ambler. Two days later, De Long com- 
ments on the gravity of his own responsibilities : — 

"My anxieties are beginning to crowd on me. A disabled 
and leaking ship, a seriously sick officer, and an uneasy and 
terrible pack, with constantly diminishing coal pile, and at a 
distance of 200 miles to the nearest Siberian settlement — 
these are enough to think of for a lifetime." 

The drift of the Jeannette for the first five months had cov- 
ered an immense area ; she had approached and receded from 
the one hundred eightieth meridian, drifting back to 
within fifty miles from where she had entered the pack. By 
the 3d of May, however, fresh southeast winds began, and 
the ship took up a rapid and uniform drift to the northwest. 
Hope for release, which had been buoyant in May, was deferred 
until June, and when that month glided by with no signs of 
liberation, it passed to July and gradually faded with the brief 
passage of a frozen summer. The Jeannette, again uncertain 
in her drift, added to the general disappointment of the com- 
mander. The ring of despair and realization of failure are 
voiced in an entry August 12 : — 

"Observations to-day show a drift since the 9th of five 
and a half miles to S. 38° E. The irony of fate ! How long, 
O Lord, how long?" 

On September 1, the Jeannette for the first time since her im- 
prisonment stood on an even keel ; but four days later, one 
year from the time she flung her fortunes to the enemy, she 
was again held fast in its frozen grip. During the month she 



350 THE GEE AT WHITE JSfOBTH 

was put in winter quarters for the second time. The ap- 
proach of the long night with its added anxieties brought 
little change to the members of the expedition. The ques- 
tion of fuel was the most serious problem, and the amount 
used was figured to the most economical basis. Weary days 
dragged along without novelty or change. " So far as I know," 
writes De Long in January, 1881, "never has an Arctic expe- 
dition been so unprofitable as this. People beset in the pack 
before have always drifted somewhere to some land, but we 
are drifting about like modern Flying Dutchmen, never get- 
ting anywhere, but always restless and on the move. Coals 
are burning up, food being consumed, the pumps are still 
going, and thirty-three people are wearing out their hearts 
and souls like men doomed to imprisonment for life. If 
this next summer comes and goes like the last without any 
result, what reasonable mind can be patient in contempla- 
tion of the future ? " 

Four long weary months were to elapse before a relief 
came to break the monotonous situation. On May 16, 1881, 
the Jeannette stood in latitude 76° 43' 20" N., longitude 161° 
53' 45" E., land was sighted to the westward, which proved 
to be an island (later named Jeannette Island), the first that 
had greeted the weary eyes of officers and men since March 24, 
1880, when the ship had been in sight of Wrangell Land. 
On May 24, a second island was seen. On the 31st, Melville, 
Dunbar, Nindemann, and three others started with a dog 
sledge and provisions, for an investigation of the newly dis- 
covered island. The party landed on June 3, hoisted the 
American flag, and formally took possession of the land in the 
name of the United States and giving it the name of Henrietta 
Island. They built a cairn and deposited a record. The 
journey had been fraught with great danger and hardship. 
"The ice between the ship and the island had been something 
frightful," writes De Long. "After digging, ferrying and its 



THE "JEANNETTE" SINKS 351 

attendant loading and unloading, arm-breaking hauls, and 
panic-stricken dogs made their journey a terribly severe one. 
Near the island the ice was all alive, and Melville left his boat 
and supplies, and, carrying only a day's provisions and his 
instruments, at the risk of his life went through the terrible 
mass, actually dragging the dogs, which from fear refused to 
follow their human leaders. If this persistence in landing upon 
this island, in spite of the superhuman difficulties he encount- 
ered, is not reckoned a brave and meritorious action, it will 
not be from any failure on my part to make it known." 

The approach of spring had revealed to Dr. Ambler a pale 
and stricken crew. Danenhower had long been a sufferer; 
Lieutenant Chipp was ill ; Mr. Collins was recuperating slowly 
from a severe illness; Alexia, the Alaskan, was suffering from 
ulcers, and others of the crew showed incipient signs of scurvy. 

On the 12th of June, 1881, while in 77° 15' north latitude, 
and 155° east longitude, the Jeannette experienced a final 
pressure from the ice, from which she sank within a few hours. 
As soon as it was realized that her fate was sealed, orders were 
issued that all provisions, boats, etc., should be transported 
to a safe distance upon the ice ; this was done without con- 
fusion or excitement. "When the order was given to abandon 
the ship," writes one of the officers, "her hold was full of water, 
and as she was keeling twenty-three degrees to starboard 
at the time the watch was on the lower side of the spar deck." 

The men encamped upon the ice, and by four o'clock on 
the morning of the 13th, "amid the rattling and banging of 
her timbers and iron work, the ship righted and stood almost 
upright, the floes that had come in and crushed her slowly 
backed off, and she sank with slightly accelerated velocity; 
the yard arms were stripped and broken upward parallel to 
the masts ; and so, like a great, gaunt skeleton clapping its 
hands above its head, she plunged out of sight. Those of 
us who saw her go down," adds Chief Engineer Melville, 



352 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

"did so with mingled feelings of sadness and relief. We 
were now utterly isolated, beyond any rational hope of aid ; 
with our proper means of escape, to which so many pleasant 
associations attached, destroyed before our eyes ; and hence 
it was no wonder we felt lonely, and in a sense that few can 
appreciate. But we were satisfied, since we knew full well 
that the ship's usefulness had long ago passed away, and we 
could now start at once, the sooner the better, on our long 
march to the south." 

The following week was spent in preparations for the re- 
treat; the route was laid due south, it being the intention of 
Captain De Long to make for the Lena River, after a brief 
stop at the New Siberian Island. The day's march was ac- 
complished under the most trying circumstances, the lateness 
of the season and the ruggedness of the ice necessitating road- 
making, bridging, and rafting, or dragging the loads through 
slush and water that lay knee-deep in the path. The foot- 
gear of the men became practically useless as a result of con- 
stant wettings, and every device was resorted to to keep the 
bare feet from contact with the ice. "A large number," 
writes Melville, "marched with their toes protruding through 
their moccasins ; some with the ' uppers ' full of holes, out of 
which the water and slush spurted at every step. Yet no 
one murmured so long as his feet were clear of ice, and I have 
here to say that no ship's company ever endured such severe 
toil with such little complaint. Another crew, perhaps, may 
be found to do as well ; but better, never !" 

Nine loaded sledges and five boats carrying sixty days' 
provisions, had to be hauled across the moving floes in the 
course of the day. The road had to be travelled no less than 
thirteen times, seven times with loads and six times empty 
handed, thus walking twenty-six miles in making an advance 
of two. The sick, with the hospital stores and tents, were un- 
der the care of Dr. Ambler. Thus the march over the frozen 




From a portrait in the possession of A. Operti, Esq. 
Captain G. W. De Long 



DAILY ROUTINE OF OFFICERS AND CREW 353 

ocean was continued for several weeks when, to the conster- 
nation and dismay of Captain De Long, he found upon taking 
observations, that by the northerly drift of the pack they 
were losing ground daily and had drifted some twenty-four 
miles to the northwest. This disheartening intelligence was 
kept from the men, with the exception of Melville and Dr. 
Ambler. Changing their course to south-southwest, the 
party continued their slow and wearisome progress until the 
11th or 12th of July, when the mountainous peaks of an 
island gladdened the eyes of the shipwrecked crew. Inspired 
to renewed effort, the men pushed on, finally landed, and 
Captain De Long took possession in the name of God and the 
United States, naming this new territory Bennett Island. 
Nine days were spent on this island, during which the boats 
were repaired. A cairn was built and a record left. The 
final departure from Bennett Island took place August 6. 
In the meantime, the brief summer had gone; already young 
ice was forming, and the streams and rivulets that had glad- 
dened the men's eyes upon their arrival had disappeared as 
the cold grasp of winter prepared to hold them fast. 

It had been decided by Captain De Long to divide the party 
into three sections, and to proceed by boats; to this end Lieu- 
tenant Chipp was assigned to the second cutter in command 
of nine men ; Chief Engineer Melville to the whale-boat in 
command of nine men, De Long reserving the command of 
the first cutter and twelve men. Instructions to Chipp and 
Melville directed that they should keep close to the captain's 
boat, but if through accident they should become separated, 
to make their way south to the coast of Siberia and follow 
it to the Lena River, then ascend the Lena to a Russian settle- 
ment. 

For the next eighteen days, the retreat was made by work- 
ing through leads, hauling the boats out, and making portages 
across floe pieces that barred their progress ; and occasionally 
2a 



354 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

as much as ten miles was made a day to the southwest. Vex- 
atious delays were caused by the fast approaching winter, and, 
upon reaching Thadeouiski, one of the New Siberian Islands, 
the pinch of diminishing rations began sorely to be felt. 
Game, which had been occasionally secured during the early 
part of the retreat, had been scarce of late, and the outlook 
began to take on the gray aspect of a desperate future. 

From now on, the retreat was one long, desperate struggle 
against famine and gales and piercing cold. Describing the 
experiences of September 7, Melville writes : — 

"Standing to the southward, we shortly came up with a 
large floe alive with small running hummocks and stream ice. 
It was blowing stiffly, the sea was lumpy, and our boats ca- 
reering at a lively rate. Pumping and bailing to keep afloat, 
we suddenly came unawares upon the weather side of a great 
floe piece, over which the sea was breaking so terribly that for 
us to come in contact with it meant certain destruction. It 
was floating from four to six feet above water, its sides either 
perpendicular or undershot by the action of the waves, which 
dashed madly over it, the surf flying in the air to a height of 
twenty feet ; and, where the sea had honeycombed it and 
eaten holes upward through its thickness, a thousand water- 
spouts cast forth spray like a school of whales. Round about, 
down sail, and away we pulled for our lives. De Long, being 
fifty or a hundred yards in advance of me, and so much nearer 
danger, hailed me to take him in tow, which I did, and to- 
gether we barely managed to hold our precarious position. 
The second cutter was away behind again, but upon coming 
up seized the whale-boat's painter ; and so we struggled in 
line, and- at last succeeded in clearing the weather edge of the 
floe. It was a long pull and a hard pull. The sea roared and 
thundered against the cold, bleak mass of ice, flying away 
from it like snowflakes and freezing as it flew ; the sailors, 
blinded by the wind and spray, pulled manfully at the oars, 



CHIEF ENGINEER MELVILLE 355 

their bare hands frozen and bleeding ; and the boats tossed 
capriciously about with the wild waves and the unequal 
strain of the tow-line. Drenched to the skin by the cruel 
icy seas which poured in and nigh filled the boats, the over- 
taxed men, as they faced the dreadful, death-dealing sea and 
murderous ice-edge, found new life and strength and per- 
formed wonders. . . . 

"Our boats were well bunched together, and although it 
was now pitch dark, we could yet for a while discern each other 
looming up out of the black water like spectres, and plunging 
over the crests of the waves. Presently the second cutter 
faded away, but as mine was the fastest boat of the three, I 
experienced no difficulty in following De Long. Indeed, in 
my anxiety to obey the order 'Keep within hail,' I at times 
barely escaped running the first cutter down. ..." 

"Toward midnight," continues Melville, "we approached 
the weather edge of the pack, the roar of the surf reaching our 
ears long before we could see the ice. I involuntarily hauled 
the whale-boat closer on the wind, and by so doing lost sight 
of the first cutter, but the terrible noise and confusion of the 
sea warned me beyond doubt of the death that lay under our 
lee. Presently out of the darkness there appeared the horrid 
white wall of ice and foam. Not a second too soon. 'Ready 
about, and out with the two lee oars if she misses stays.' 
This, of course, from the heavy sea, she did ; and quick as 
thought my orders were obeyed. As we turned slowly round, 
a wave swept across our starboard quarter filling the boats 
to the seats. Ye Gods ! what a cold bath .! And now we 
were in the midst of small streaming ice, broken and triturated 
into posh by the sea and grinding floes, and this was hurled 
back upon us by the reflex water and eddying current in the 
rear of the pack, which was rapidly moving before the wind. 
With bailers, buckets, and pumps doing their utmost, the two 
lee oars brought us around in good time, and we filed away on 



356 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

the other tack, the waves still leaping playfully in as though 
to keep us busy and spice our misery with the zest of danger. 

"When day broke, neither of our companion boats was in 
sight. The wind had moderated greatly, and we were now 
in quiet water among the loose pack, — perhaps the most 
miserable looking collection of mortals that ever crowded 
shivering together in a heap. We looked, indeed, so utterly 
forlorn and wretched that just to revive and thaw, as it were, 
my drowned and frozen wits, I burst forth into frenzied song. 
Of a truth, as we sat shaking there, our situation was nigh 
desperate ; we were down to an allowance of a pint of water 
to each man per day, now that De Long was separated from 
us ; but upon the suggestion of some one in the boat, I set up 
the fire-pot and made hot tea. We were thus breakfasting 
when the first cutter hove in view. I at once joined com- 
pany, and shortly after the second cutter made her appear- 
ance and we were again together. The sea soon calmed, 
les miserables thawed out, the morning became as pleasant as 
the memorable May mornings at home, and we again were 
bright and alive with hope." 

The following day, September 12, after a night's encamp- 
ment upon a floe, the party landed in Semenovski, and the 
hunters had the good fortune to secure a deer, which pro- 
vided them for the first time in many months a full and deli- 
cious meal. Cape Barkin, the point of destination, was found 
to be only ninety miles distant, and, after a day's rest and 
depositing a record at Semenovski Island, the party em- 
barked once more full of hope and courage that Cape Barkin 
might be reached after one more night at sea. 

The three boats sped forward to the southwest in a rising 
sea, the gale increased, and the heavy seas grew hourly more 
formidable and threatening. De Long and Chipp were ex- 
periencing great difficulty in the management of their over- 
loaded boats. Melville, in his endeavour to obey the order to 



A SECOND WINTER IN THE PACK 357 

keep within hail, was all but swamped by the fury of the waves 
as they broke over the whale-boat. 

In an endeavour to answer signals from De Long, Melville 
shouted down the wind that he must run or swamp — De Long 
waved back, motioning him onward. Melville hoisted sail, 
shook out one reef, and the whale-boat shot forward like an 
arrow. De Long then signalled Chipp ; for an instant the 
second cutter was seen in the dim twilight to rise on the crest 
of a wave, then sink out of sight; once more she appeared; a 
tremendous sea broke over her; a man was seen striving to 
free the sail ; she sank again from view, and, though seas rose 
and fell, one after another, the second cutter with all on board 
was never seen again. 

The whale-boat plunged on at a spanking rate and was 
soon out of sight of De Long. The question now was whether 
she would outlive the gale — and to insure greater safety 
Melville ordered a drag anchor to be made of tent poles 
weighted with such available material as came to hand. 

What a night, lying anchored at the mercy of the gale, 
bailing out with pumps, buckets, and pans the heavy seas 
as they broke over the boat ; hungry and thirsty men, soaked 
to the skin with repeated ice-cold baths, half frozen from 
exposure to the icy blasts. A little whiskey was all they had 
during that fearful night, and in the morning a quarter of a 
pound of pemmican served as breakfast to the wretched crew. 
The gale still raged about them with unabated fury. But 
by afternoon it had abated sufficiently for them to get under 
way, and the morning of the 14th found them sailing through 
young ice, and in shoal waters, which they avoided by steering 
to the eastward all day. Short rations of a quarter of a pound 
of pemmican three times a day, without water, was all they 
had, and another miserable night settled upon the toilers, 
as they bailed the water-logged whale-boat, the water turn- 
ing to slush the minute it was in the boat. 



358 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The men were now undergoing severe sufferings from thirst. 
The following clay they were fortunate in reaching one mouth 
of the Lena River, and, proceeding up this stream, they dis- 
embarked for the first time, after five days of misery. Tak- 
ing shelter in a deserted hut, lately vacated by natives, they 
thawed their aching bodies around a cheering camp fire, 
brewed a pot of tea, and ate of a stew made of a few birds shot 
at Semenovski Island. But their swollen limbs, blistered and 
cracked hands, gave them excruciating pain, and another 
sleepless night added to their misery. Two more toilsome 
days were spent pulling up the river and encamping at night 
under a cold and cheerless sky. 

On the 19th of September, 1881, Melville's party had the 
good fortune to fall in with natives, who treated the forlorn 
men with great kindness and generosity, and on the 26th of 
September they reached the Russian village of Geemovialocke, 
where they subsisted until they were able to communicate 
with the commandant at Belun. 

Upon the separation of the boats already described, De 
Long experienced the same threatened destruction of the first 
cutter that had caused Melville so much anxiety in the whale- 
boat. After three miserable days and nights of exposure to 
the merciless seas, he decided to make a landing by wading 
ashore September 17, at a point 73° 25' north latitude, 26° 
30' east longitude. Owing to the shallow water, it was found 
necessary to abandon the boat, and the wretched, enfeebled 
party, destitute, save for four days' scant provisions, began 
their fatal march on the inhospitable tundra of northern 
Siberia, in search of a settlement ninety-five miles distant. 
De Long's record of this weary tramp is one long agony of 
a slowly perishing party. Everything was abandoned that 
was not absolutely necessary, but in spite of lightened loads, 
the half-frozen men limped and hobbled slowly along, falling 
in their tracks, the weaker assisted by the stronger, but even 



A SECOND WINTER IN THE PACK 359 

then the ground covered was inconsiderable, so that on Sep- 
tember 21, upon reaching some deserted huts, De Long 
records : — 

"According to my accounts we are now thirty-seven miles 
away from the next station ! and eighty-seven from a probable 
settlement. We have two days' rations after to-morrow 
morning's breakfast, and we have three lame men who can- 
not make more than five or six miles a day ; of course, I 
cannot leave them, and they certainly cannot keep up with 
the pace necessary to take." 

The hunters were fortunate in securing occasional deer, 
but the unfortunate condition of Erickson, whose frozen feet 
necessitated the amputation of his toes, retarded their prog- 
ress, and October came in cold and blustery to find the mis- 
erable party still far away from human aid. For nine days 
more they struggled along the barren shores of the Lena ; 
game failed, and their food was exhausted. Erickson died 
and was buried in the river. Nindemann and Noros started 
on a forced march for assistance from the nearest settlement 
at Ku Mark Surka ; they carried their blankets, one rifle, 
forty rounds of ammunition, and two ounces of alcohol — but 
no food ! 

On October 10, De Long makes the following entry : — 

"One hundred and twentieth day. Last half ounce alcohol 
at 5.30 ; at 6.30 send Alexey off to look for ptarmigan. Eat 
deerskin scraps. Yesterday morning ate my deerskin foot- 
nips. Light S.S.E. airs. Not very cold. Under way at 
eight. In crossing creek three of us got wet. Built fire and 
dried out. Ahead again until eleven. Used up. Built 
fire. Made a drink out of the tea-leaves from alcohol bottle. 
On again at noon. Fresh S.S.W. wind, drifting snow. Very 
hard going. Lee begging to be left. Some little beach, and 
then long stretches of high bank. Ptarmigan tracks plenti- 
ful. Following Nindemann 's tracks. At three halted, used 



360 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

up ; crawled into a hole in the bank, collected wood, and built 
fire. Alexey away in quest of game. Nothing for supper 
except a spoonful of glycerine. All hands weak and feeble 
but cheerful — God help us." 

Three days later there is an entry, "We are in the hands of 
God, and unless He intervenes we are lost." 

On October 16, the faithful hunter, Alexey, broke down, 
and the next day he died. On the 21st Kaack was found dead 
between the captain and Dr. Ambler, and about noon Lee 
died, and on October 22 De Long writes : — 

"One hundred and thirty-second day. Too weak to carry 
the bodies of Lee and Kaack out on the ice. The doctor, 
Collins, and I carried them around the corner out of sight ; 
then my eye closed up." 

On Monday, October 24, there is the simple entry: "One 
hundred and thirty-fourth day. A hard night." And three 
days later, "Iversen broken down," and the next day, "Iver- 
sen died during early morning." On October 29, "One hun- 
dred and thirty-ninth day, Dressier died during night." 
On October 30, Sunday, the last record of the brave De Long 
was written: "One hundred and fortieth day. Boyd and 
Gortz died during night. Mr. Collins dying." 

The forced march of Nindemann and Noros is one of the 
most remarkable tests of human suffering and endurance in 
the annals of Arctic history. It is a record of travelling across 
the wilderness without food except as they brought down 
an occasional ptarmigan and lemming ; sighting with the eyes 
of starving men a herd of deer which fled before they could 
approach sufficiently near to fire at them ; struggling through 
wretched days to crawl into a snow hole at night, where they 
lay the night through wet to the waist, alternately sleeping for 
five-minute intervals, one man rousing the other that he might 
knock his feet together to keep them from freezing and taking 
up the march upon the strength of an infusion of Arctic willow 



A SECOND WINTER IN THE PACK 361 

tea and boot-sole. Crossing a couple of streams they sought 
shelter from a raging gale in a wretched hut where a refuse 
pile of deer bones were burned and eaten. Near another hut 
was found a little rotten fish — this eked out with strips cut 
from seal-skin clothing was all that stayed the pangs of hunger 
as they marched on. The 16th of October found their 
strength fast waning. Noros was complaining of illness and 
spitting blood. Two days later they reached a place set down 
on later maps as Bulcour ; it consisted of three deserted huts. 

" Near by was a half kayak with something in it. Noros 
tasted it. It was blue moulded and tasteless to them, but it 
was fish, and they took it with them to the other huts. They 
found nothing more, and after gathering some drift-wood they 
made a fire and tried to find some food in the mouldy fish." 

On Friday, October 21, they were too weak to push on, 
but spent the day in careful husbanding of their resources. 
Measuring their fish, they found that by taking each two tin 
cupfuls a day they had enough for ten days. Sewing up the 
fish in their foot-nips and skull caps, they arranged straps to 
these bundles for carrying. 

The next day, while still too weak to proceed, they heard 
a noise outside the hut, like a flock of geese sweeping by, and 
Nindemann, seizing his gun looked through the crack of the 
door. Seeing something moving which he thought were 
reindeer, Nindemann advanced, when the door suddenly 
opened and a man stood on the threshold. Seeing the rifle, 
the man fell upon his knees, but when Nindemann reassured 
him by throwing the weapon to one side, friendly communi- 
cation was established between the stranger and the forlorn 
men. Sympathizing with their desperate plight, he let them 
know by signs that he would return in three or four hours, or 
days, they could not tell which. 

About six o'clock the same evening, the stranger, accom- 
panied by two other natives, returned, bringing with them a 



362 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

frozen fish, which they skinned and sliced, and while Ninde- 
mann and Noros were devouring the first real food that they 
had had for many a day, the men brought in deer-skin coats 
and boots for them. Assisting them into the sleighs, they 
drove off with them along the river to the westward for a 
distance of about fifteen miles to where some other natives 
were located in two tents. These treated the sailors with 
great kindness. By signs and pantomime Noros and Ninde- 
mann tried in every possible way to explain to these natives 
about De Long and the remainder of the first cutter's party, 
but they failed to understand, and two days later, after reach- 
ing Ku Mark Surka, the same efforts were renewed without 
success. In despair of securing assistance, the men implored 
to be conveyed to Belun, which they reached October 26. 

An interview with the commandant at Belun left the men 
still uncertain if they were understood, or the plight of De 
Long's forlorn party made clear to the official, who, however, 
repeated that he would take a paper to the " Captain," who 
Nindemann supposed to be his superior officer. Sick and 
weak from dysentery, scantily clothed, and insufficiently fed, 
the men were located in a miserable hut which had been 
assigned to them, when on the evening of November 2, 1881, 
the door opened and a man dressed in fur entered. As he 
came forward, Noros exclaimed, "My God! Mr. Melville! 
Are you alive? We thought that the whale-boats were all 
dead!" 

The official, having already knowledge of the safety of the 
whale-boat's party, had immediately communicated with 
Melville, who in all haste came to Belun. The whale-boat 
party were now on their road from Geemovialocke to Belun. 
The intrepid Melville was now determined upon an immediate 
search for De Long's party, and to this end hastened back, 
meeting Danenhower at Burulak, where he gave him instruc- 
tions to proceed with the entire party to Yakutsk, a distance 



ABANDONMENT 363 

of twelve hundred miles, and to communicate with the Rus- 
sian government and the United States minister. 

Melville was by no means recovered from his long exposure, 
and his frozen limbs caused him great suffering, but never- 
theless he went back over the track of Nindemann and Noros 
step by step. On November 10, the natives who had accom- 
panied him announced they must return as the provisions 
were exhausted, but Melville commanded them to go on, 
declaring they would eat dog as long as the twenty-two lasted, 
and when these gave out he should eat them. Such deter- 
mination won the day, and they proceeded to the settlement 
of North Belun. Here a native brought him one of De Long's 
records, left on the march. From these natives he learned in 
which direction the records had been found, and pressing on, 
in spite of his frozen feet, which were in such a condition he 
could no longer wear his moccasins, he reached, November 13, 
the hut where De Long's first record had been left, a distance 
from North Belun of thirty-three miles. Could De Long's 
chart but have shown the native settlement of North Belun, 
the whole party would doubtless have been saved. 

On November 14 following the northeast bank of the river 
he came to the shores of the Arctic Ocean and found the 
flag-staff where articles from the first cutter had been cached. 
Loading his sled with all the articles found there, including log- 
book, chronometer and navigation box, he returned to North 
Belun. With fresh dog teams he set out again November 17, 
in an endeavour to find the hut where Erickson died. Fierce 
storms and lack of food forced Melville to take refuge in a 
snow-hole dug about six feet square and three or four feet 
deep. 

"The storm continued to blow," writes Melville, "the 
whole of that night, the next day and the next night. It was 
impossible to move until the next day morning, when it 
cleared up a little, but in the mean time, we had nothing to 



364 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

eat. It was too stormy to make a fire to make tea, and the 
venison bones which the natives had dug out were full of 
maggots. We chopped this up in little cubes and swallowed 
it whole, which made me so sick after it warmed up in my 
stomach that I vomited it all out again." 

Melville reached Ku Mark Surka November 24, and at 
Belun three days later, after an absence of twenty-three days, 
in which he travelled no less than six hundred and sixty-three 
miles over the tundra of Northern Siberia in the face of an 
Arctic winter. Upon reaching Yakutsk December 30, 1881, 
where Danenhower and his party had preceded him, Melville 
retained Nindemann and Bartlett to assist him in the spring 
search, and instructed Danenhower to proceed with the other 
nine men to Irkutsk, distant over nineteen hundred miles, 
from thence to America. 

The spring search was made under the following instruc- 
tions from the Navy Department at Washington : — 

"Omit no effort, spare no expense in securing safety of 
men in second cutter. Let the sick and the frozen of those 
already rescued have every attention, and as soon as practi- 
cable have them transferred to a milder climate. Department 
will supply necessary funds." 

In the meantime J. P. Jackson, special correspondent of 
the Neiv York Herald, had arrived at Irkutsk, on his way to the 
Lena Delta. The Navy Department detailed L. P. Noros 
to accompany, him. Lieutenant Giles B. Harber, U. S. N., 
accompanied by Master W. H. Schuetze, had been sent to 
search for Lieutenant Chipp and his party. 

Melville, with Nindemann and Bartlett as assistants, en- 
gaged three interpreters and reached Belun the second week 
in February. A month was spent in collecting dogs and pro- 
visions and establishing depots of supplies at Mat Vai and 
Kas Karta. On March 16, 1882, accompanied by Ninde- 
mann, Melville proceeded to a place called Usterda, where 



MELVILLE'S SEARCH 365 

Captain De Long had crossed the river to the westward. A 
search was now made for the hut where Erickson had died. 

Snow covered the country and effectively obliterated all 
traces of previous travellers. Storms forced their return to 
Kas Karta, and a fresh start was made. The party divided 
to insure a more thorough search. 

"We followed the bay," says Mr. Melville in his narrative, 
"until late in the evening, having visited all the headlands; 
finally we came up to the large river with the broken ice. I 
jumped upon the headland or point of land making down in 
the bay and found where an immense fire had been made. 
The fire bed was probably six feet in diameter, large drift- 
logs hove into it, and a large fire made, such as a signal fire. 
I then hailed Nindemann and the natives, saying 'Here they 
are ! ' They thought that I had found the place where the 
De Long party had been. Nindemann came upon the point 
of land, and said that neither he nor Noros had made a fire 
of that kind, only a small fire in the cleft of a bank ; but he 
was sure that this was the point of land thej' had turned going 
to the westward, and that this was the river along which he 
and Noros had come. ..." 

"It is the custom of the people here," continues Melville, 
"in making a search to go facing the river and when they see 
anything to attract them, drop off the sled and examine it, 
or pick it up and go on. In this manner, about five hundred 
yards from the point where the fire had been, I saw the points 
of four sticks standing up out of the snow about eighteen 
inches, and lashed together with a piece of rope. Seeing this, 
I dropped off the sled, and going up to the place on the snow 
bank, I found a Remington rifle slung across the points of the 
sticks, and the muzzle about eight inches out of the snow. 
The dog-driver, seeing I had found something, came back 
with the sled, and I sent him to Nindemann to tell him to 
come back, he having gone as far up the river as the flat-boat. 



366 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

When they returned I started the natives to digging out the 
snow-bank underneath the tent-poles. I supposed that the 
party had got tired of carrying their books and papers, and 
had made a deposit of them at this place, and erected these 
poles over the papers and books as a landmark, that they 
might return and secure them in case they arrived at a place 
of safety. Nindemann and I stood around a little while, 
got upon the bank, and took a look at the river. Nindemann 
said he would go to the northward, and see if he could discover 
anything of the track and find the way to Erickson's hut. I 
took the compass and proceeded to the southward to get the 
bearings of Stolbovoi and Mat Vai, so I might return there 
that night in case it came on to blow. 

"In proceeding to a point to set up the compass, I saw a 
tea-kettle partially buried in the snow. One of the natives 
had followed me, and I pointed out to him the kettle, and 
advancing to pick it up, I came upon the bodies of three men,- 
partially buried in the snow, one hand reaching out with the 
left arm of the man raised way above the surface of the snow 
— his whole left arm. I immediately recognized them as 
Captain De Long, Dr. Ambler, and Ah Sam, the cook. The 
captain and the doctor were lying with their heads to the 
northward, face to the west, and Ah Sam was lying at right 
angles to the other two, with his head about the Doctor's 
middle, and feet in the fire, or where the fire had been. This 
fireplace was surrounded by drift-wood, immense trunks of 
trees, and they had their fire in the crotch of a large tree. 
They had carried the tea-kettle up there, and got a lot of Arctic 
willow which they used for tea, and some ice to make water 
for their tea, and had a fire. They apparently had attempted 
to carry their books and papers up there on this high point, 
because they carried the chart case up there, and I suppose 
the fatigue of going up on the high land prevented their return- 
ing to get the rest of their books and papers. No doubt they 



Melville's search: 367 

saw that if they died on the river bed, where the water runs, 
the spring freshets would carry them off to sea. 

"I gathered up all the small articles lying around in the 
vicinity of the dead. I found the ice journal about three or 
four feet in the rear of De Long ; that is, it looked as though 
he had been lying down, and with his left hand tossed the book 
over his shoulder to the rear, or to the eastward of him." 

"Referring to the journal," continues Melville, "I found 
that the whole of the people were now in the lee of the bank, in 
a distance of about five hundred yards. In the meantime, 
the native that had gone for Nindemann had brought him 
back." 

"The three bodies were all frozen fast to the snow, so fast 
that it was necessary to pry them loose with a stick of timber. 
In turning over Dr. Ambler, I was surprised to find De Long's 
pistol in his right hand, and then, observing the blood-stained 
mouth, beard, and snow, I at first thought that he had put a 
violent end to his misery. A careful examination, however, of 
the mouth and head revealed no wound, and, releasing the pis- 
tol from its tenacious death-grasp, I saw that only three of its 
chambers contained cartridges, which were all loaded, and then 
knew, of course, that he could not have harmed himself, else 
one or more of the capsules would be empty. ... I believe 
him to have been the last of the unfortunate party to perish. 
When Ah Sam had been stretched out and his hands crossed 
upon his breast, De Long apparently crawled away and died. 
Then, solitary and famishing, in that desolate scene of death, 
Dr. Ambler seems to have taken the pistol from the corpse of 
De Long, doubtless in the hope that some bird or beast might 
come to prey upon the bodies and afford him food, — perhaps 
alone to protect his dead comrades from molestation, — in 
either case, or both, there he kept his lone watch to the last, 
on duty, on guard, under arms." 

It now remained but to find the other bodies and bury the 



868 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

dead. In due time this was accomplished. Melville writes 
of the spot chosen as follows : — 

"The burial ground is on a bold promontory with a perpen- 
dicular face overlooking the frozen polar sea. The rocky 
head of the mountain, cold, austere as the Sphinx, frowns 
upon the spot where the party perished ; and considering its 
weather-beaten and time-worn aspect, it is altogether fitting 
that here they should rest. I attained the crest of the prom- 
ontory by making a detour of several miles to the southward 
of its majestic front, and then toiling slowly to the top. Here 
I laid out by compass a due north and south line, and one due 
east and west, and where they intersected, I planted the cross 
which marks the tomb of my comrades." 

" There in sight of the spot where they fell, the scene of their 
suffering and heroic endeavor, where the everlasting snows 
would be their winding sheet and the fierce polar blasts which 
pierced their poor unclad bodies in life, would wail their wild 
dirge through all time, — there we buried them, and surely 
heroes never found a fitter resting place." 

Lieutenant Harber was also in the field, as was Mr. Jackson, 
correspondent of the New York Herald. A thorough search 
was made of the Delta for Chipp's party, without avail. 

Congress having appropriated $25,000 for the expense of 
bringing home to America the bodies of De Long and his 
unfortunate party, Lieutenant Harber and Master Schuetze 
of the relief ship Rogers, which had been burned off the coast 
of Siberia in December, 1881, left the Lena in 1883 after a 
year's search, bringing with them the remains. 




By permission of Clinedinst, Washington, D.C. 
Rear Admiral George W. Melville, U.S.N. 



CHAPTER XIX 

International circumpolar stations. — Failure of Dutch expedition. 

— Greely expedition reaches Lady Franklin Bay. — Life at Fort 
Conger. — Sledge journey of Brainard and Lockwood. — Farthest 
north. — Greely's journey to interior of Grinnell Land. — Lake 
Hazen. — Failure of relief ship Neptune to reach Conger in 1882. 

— Official plans for Greely's relief in 1883. — Proteus crushed in 
ice. — Garlington's retreat. — Greely's abandonment of Fort 
Conger. — Greely reaches Cape Sabine. — The beginning of a 
hard winter. — Death of members of the party from starvation 
and cold. — Schley's brilliant rescue of the remnant of the Lady 
Franklin Bay expedition in 1884. 

The plan for establishing International Circumpolar Sta- 
tions within or near the Arctic Circle, for the purpose of re- 
cording a complete series of synchronous meteorological and 
magnetic observations, was outlined in a well-thought-out 
paper delivered by Lieutenant Karl Weyprecht, A. H. Navy, 
before the German Scientific and Medical Association of 
Gratz in September, 1875, soon after the return from his 
remarkable journey in the Tegetthof. 

Though Lieutenant Weyprecht did not live to see his splen- 
did scheme carried into effect, the cooperation of Prince 
Bismarck and the hearty indorsement of the plan by a com- 
mission of eminent scientists, as well as the decision of the 
International Meteorological Congress, which reported "that 
these observations will be of the highest importance in devel- 
oping meteorology and in extending our knowledge of terres- 
trial magnetism," resulted in the International Polar Con- 
ference, at Hamburg, October 1, 1879, in which eleven nations 
were represented, and a second conference at Berne, August 7, 
1880, at which it was decided that each nation should estab- 
2 b 369 



370 



THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 



lish one or more stations where synchronous observations 
should be taken from August, 1882. 

With the exception of the Dutch expedition, the scheme 
was successfully carried out and the stations established with- 
out accident. 

Norwegians — Bosekof, Allen Fjord, Norway, under direction 
of M. Aksel S. Steen. 

Swedes — Ice Fjord, Spitzbergen, under direction of Mr. 
Ekholm. 

Russians — Sagastyr Island, mouth of Lena, Siberia, 
under Lieutenant Jurgens. 
Moller Bay, Nova Zembla, under Lieutenant 
Andreief. 

Americans — Point Barrow, North America, under Lieuten- 
ant Ray, U. S. A. 
Lady Franklin Bay, 81° 44' N., under Lieuten- 
ant A. W. Greely, U. S. A. 

English — Great Slave Lake, Dominion of Canada, under 
Lieutenant Dawson. 

German — Cumberland Bay — west side of Davis Strait, 
under Dr. Giese. 

Danes — Godthaab, Greenland, under A. Paulsen. 

Austrian — Jan Mayen, North Atlantic, 71° N., under 
Lieutenant Wohlgemuth, A. H. Navy. 



As to the unsuccessful Dutch expedition, the Varna sailed 
from Amsterdam July 5, 1882, bound for Dickson Harbor, 
but was beset in the Kara Sea in September; she was crushed 
in December, 1882, when the crew took refuge on board 
Lieutenant Hovgaard's vessel, the Dymphna, which had also 
been forced to winter in the pack. Nevertheless, Dr. Snellen 
did his utmost to procure regular observations from their 
besetment until the following August, when they started by 



FAILURE OF DUTCH EXPEDITION 371 

boat and sledge for the coast of Nova Zembla. By August 
25, they reached the south point of Waigat Island, where they 
met the Nordenskjold and were safely landed in Hammerfest, 
September 1, 1883. 

The inestimable value of the combined and systematic 
record of the scientific observations secured by the Inter- 
national Circumpolar Stations is a matter of public record. 
The success was complete, and all but the American nation 
might well be proud of the management and protection of- 
fered to the fearless men detailed to the splendid work. 

The unparalleled disaster which overtook the Lady 
Franklin Bay expedition under Lieutenant Greely and his 
brave companions, through no fault of their own, but by a 
series of mismanaged accidents for which there was neither 
excuse nor condonation, leaves a blot upon the American rec- 
ords which the centuries cannot obliterate. 

"If the simple and necessary precaution had been taken," 
writes Markham, brother of the famous explorer, "of station- 
ing a depot-ship in a good harbour at the entrance of Smith 
Sound, in annual communication with Greely on one side and 
•with America on the other, there would have been no disas- 
ter" ; and he continues, "If precautions proved to be neces- 
sary by experience are taken, there is no undue risk or danger 
in polar enterprises. There is no question as to the value 
and importance of polar discovery, and as to the principles 
on which expeditions should be sent out. Their objects are 
explorations for scientific purposes and the encouragement of 
maritime enterprise." 

Lieutenant Greely's party consisted of three officers besides 
the commander, nineteen men of the army, including an 
astronomer, a photographer, and meteorologist, and two 
Eskimos. Sailing from St. John's, Newfoundland, July 7, 
1881, they were conveyed in the sealer, Proteus, to Littleton 
Island, where they hunted up the mail of the Alert and Dis- 



372 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

covery, then proceeded in open water to Cape Lieber, 81° 37' N. 
There the ship was delayed by encountering ice in Hall Basin. 
By August 11, she had pushed through and safely landed the 
party at the' old winter quarters of the Discovery in 1875- 
1876. Immediate preparations were made for building a 
house, and after all supplies were landed, the Proteus sailed 
home, leaving Lieutenant Greely and his party at "Fort 
Conger." Indications of approaching winter appeared as 
early as August 27, and the season proved one of unusual 
severity. Sledge journeys, hunting parties, and exploring 
trips, combined with regular duties, scientific observations, 
exercise and moderate amusements, insured the party a sea- 
son of successful labour and good health. 

Travelling in one instance a week, in another ten days, in 
frightful temperatures averaging 73° below freezing, Lieuten- 
ant Lockwood and Dr. 0. Pavy, surgeon of the expedition, 
with their companions, endured the severity with surprising 
energy. The ice conditions of Robeson Channel were ascer- 
tained and depots established at Cape Sumner for use in the 
following spring. 

The sun left on October 15, and was absent one hundred 
and thirty-five days. The curious effect upon the mind 
produced by the long Arctic night is recorded in December. 
"About the 10th," writes Lieutenant Greely in his Report, 
"a few of the men gave indications of being affected by the 
continual darkness, but such signs soon disappeared and 
cheerful spirits returned. The Eskimos appeared to be the 
most affected. On the 13th, Jens Edward disappeared, 
leaving the station in early morning, without mittens and 
without breakfast. Sending two parties with lanterns to 
describe a half-mile circle around the station, his tracks were 
soon found, leading towards the straits. He was at once 
pursued, and was overtaken about ten miles from the station, 
near Cape Murchison. He returned to the station without 




From a painting in the possession of A. Operti, Esq. 
Colonel David Legge Brainard, U.S.A. 



SLEDGE JOURNEY OF BRAINARD AND LOCKWOOD 373 

objection, and in time recovered his spirits. No cause for 
his action in this respect could be ascertained." 

Dr. Pavy, who had spent the previous year among the 
Eskimos, said that this state of mind was not infrequent 
among the natives of lower Greenland, and often resulted in 
the wandering off of the subjects of it, and, if not followed, by 
their perishing in the cold. 

As early as February 19, 1882, Lockwood and Brainard 
made a dog-sledge trip to one of the depots, deposited the 
previous autumn, a journey over the foot-ice of twenty miles. 
On the 29th of February, Lieutenant Lockwood, accompanied 
by Brainard, four other men, and two dog teams, made an 
experimental trip to Thank God Harbor preparatory to his 
proposed grand expedition along the coast to northern 
Greenland. Visiting the grave of Charles Francis Hall, 
Lockwood wrote in his journal the following touching trib- 
ute : — 

"The head-board erected by his comrades, as also the me- 
tallic one left by the English, still stands. How mournful to 
me the scene, made more so by the howling of the winds and 
the thick atmosphere ! It was doubtless best that he died 
where he did. I have come to regard him as a visionary and 
an enthusiast, who was indebted more to fortune than to those 
practical abilities which Kane possessed. Yet he gave his 
life to the cause, and that must always go far toward redeem- 
ing the shortcomings of any man. The concluding lines of 
the inscription on the English tablet, I think good. 'To 
Captain Hall, who sacrificed his life in the advancement of 
science, November 8, 1871. This tablet has been erected by 
the British polar expedition of 1875, which followed in his 
footsteps and profited by his experience."' 

Dr. Pavy, accompanied by Sergeant Rice and Eskimo Jens 
with a dog-sledge, started March 19, 1882, for the north of 
Grinnell Land. A supporting sledge under Sergeant Jewell 



374 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

accompanied him as far as Lincoln Bay. On April 1, an unfor- 
tunate accident to a sledge runner caused a five days' delay 
at Cape Union. Sergeant Rice and Eskimo Jens made a 
forced march back to Fort Conger and secured a new runner. 
Storms retarded their advance, but in spite of the rough condi- 
tion of the ice, all supplies were brought up to Cape Joseph 
Henry and left there April 20. Two days later a violent 
storm set in, and after it subsided, the party pushed on toward 
Cape Hecla. A lane of open water was seen extending from 
Crozier Island round Cape Hecla. As this channel rapidly 
increased in width, a retreat was decided on, but to his con- 
sternation, before land could be reached, Dr. Pavy found 
himself adrift on a floe in the Polar Ocean. Fortunately the 
floe was driven against the land near Cape Henry, and after 
abandoning all articles not absolutely indispensable, he 
escaped to the mainland, but was obliged to give up further 
explorations. 

In the meantime, Lieutenant Lockwood had completed 
his preparations, and the advance party, consisting of Sergeant 
Brainard and nine men dragging four Hudson Bay sledges, 
left Fort Conger April 3, 1882, to be followed the next day by 
Lieutenant Lockwood with two men and one dog-sledge, 
under instructions to explore the coast of Greenland near 
Cape Britannia "in such direction as (he) thought best 
to carry out the objects of the (main) expedition, — the 
extension of knowledge regarding lands within the Arctic 
Circle." 

The 5th of April, Lockwood joined the advance party at 
Depot A. On the afternoon of the 8th, they reached Cape 
Sumner. Bags of pemmican were added to the sledge loads 
for dog food. The parties encountered violent gales and 
extreme cold (81° below freezing) as they pushed on to New- 
man Bay. The hard experience of sledge travel was already 
telling upon the men, and at this point four were sent back, 



FARTHEST NORTH 375 

being unfit for continued field work. Pushing on for Repulse 
Harbor, with three hundred rations and eight men, Lockwood 
advanced in the face of storms, rough ice, and broken sledges, 
at the average rate of nine miles per day. The men suf- 
fered much from snow-blindness, and the unwonted fatigue of 
dragging the heavy sledges through areas of soft, deep snow. 
At Cape Bryant, which was reached April 27, a rest of two days 
was taken, during which Brainard, with two companions, 
visited the highest point of Cape Tulford. 

On the 29th of May, Lieutenant Lockwood sent back the 
supporting sledge-men and, with Brainard and the Eskimo 
Christensen, the dog-sledge and twenty-five days' rations, 
pursued his journey north across the Polar Ocean to Cape 
Britannia, which was reached May 5, after six journeys, the 
last a very short one. 

"From the top of the mountain, 2050 feet," writes Lock- 
wood, "which forms Cape Britannia, I got a good view all 
around. Towards the northeast lay a succession of headlands 
and inlets as far as I could see — some 15 or 20 miles — and 
this was the character of the coast beyond as far as I got." 

They had followed out the letter of their instructions and 
had reached the destination mentioned therein, but finding it 
possible to continue their explorations, they pushed on over 
land never before explored by man, crossing the frozen ocean 
and reaching Mary Murray Island the 10th of May. The 
party were now suffering from cold and insufficient food. 
To husband their rations, they had eaten very little of late. 

"The dogs were ravenous for food, and when feeding time 
came, it was amid blows from the men and fights among the 
dogs that the distribution was made." 

In spite of serious delaj^s by violent wind and storms, by 
floes so high that the sledge was lowered by dog-traces ; by 
ice so rough as to necessitate the use of the axe before they 
could advance, and by widening water cracks which delayed 



376 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

their progress, these men pushed boldly on, and on May 15, 
1882, made a world's record, reaching on that day Lockwood 
Island, 83° 24' north latitude, 42° 46' west longitude. Gain- 
ing a considerable elevation, Lockwood unfurled Mrs. 
Greely's pretty little silken flag and "for the first time in 
two hundred and seventy-five years another nation than Eng- 
land claimed the honors of the farthest north, and the Union 
Jack gave way to the Stars and Stripes." 

From this point the most northerly land seen was Cape 
Washington ; beyond to the north "lay an unbroken expanse 
of ice, interrupted only by the horizon." Haven Coast 
trended to the northeast, in a succession of high, rocky, and 
precipitous promontories. 

Evidences of vegetation and game were found in this high 
latitude. Lemmings, ptarmigan, foxes, and hares found their 
way to these desolate shores, and small plants struggled for a 
foothold in the uncongenial soil. 

"As we think of Lockwood," writes Charles Lanman, his 
biographer, "at the end of his journey, with only two com- 
panions, in that land of utter desolation, we are struck with 
admiration at the courage and manly spirit by which he was 
inspired. Biting cold, fearful storms, gloomy darkness, the 
dangers of starvation and sickness, all combined to block his 
ice pathway, and yet he persevered and accomplished his 
heroic purpose, thereby winning a place in history of which 
his countrymen may well, and will, be proud to the end of 
time." 1 

The return was even more arduous than the advance, and 
as they pursued their weary trail, thoughts wandered to home 
and creature comforts. "What thoughts one has when thus 
plodding along!" writes Lockwood in his journal. "Home 
and everything there, and the scenes and incidents of early 

1 Reprinted from Farthest North by Charles Lanman. Copyright, 
1885, by D. Appleton and Company. 



LAKE HAZEN 377 

youth ! Home again, when this Arctic experience shall be 
a thing of the past ! But it must be confessed, and lament- 
able it is, as well as true, that the reminiscences to which 
my thoughts oftenest recur on these occasions are connected 
with eating, — the favourite dishes I have enjoyed, — while 
in dreams of the future, my thoughts turn from other contem- 
plations to the discussion of beefsteak, and, equally absurd, 
to whether the stew and tea at our next supper will be hot or 
cold." 

Joining the supporting party at Cape Sumner, the entire 
party, suffering from exhaustion and snow-blindness, reached 
Fort Conger, June 1, 1882. During the absence of Lockwood, 
Lieutenant Greely had left Fort Conger, April 26, 1882, 
and penetrated Grinnell Land, reaching Lake Hazen, a glacial 
lake, some five hundred square miles in area. Lake Hazen 
was again visited by Greely in June. "Following up Very 
River to its source, the farthest reached was 175 miles from 
the home station, between Mount C. A. Arthur and Mount 
C. S. Smith, which evidently form the divide of Grinnell 
Land, — between Kennedy Channel to the east and the Polar 
Ocean to the west." Ascending Mount C. A. Arthur, the 
highest peak of Grinnell Land, Greely stood 4500 feet above 
the sea, and saw to the north of Lake Hazen snow-clad moun- 
tains, and distant country to the southwest was also covered 
with eternal snows. Lieutenant Lockwood subsequently 
supplemented Greely's discoveries of the interior of Grinnell 
Land with the result that jointly 6000 square miles of terri- 
tory was examined, an accomplishment which " determines 
the remarkable physical conditions of North Grinnell Land. 
It brought to light fertile valleys, supporting herds of musk- 
oxen, an extensive ice-cap, rivers of considerable size, and a 
glacial lake (Hazen) of extensive area. ..." 

Traces of Eskimos having wintered at Lake Hazen, as shown 
by permanent huts, were a source of surprise to the explorers. 



378 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

"Successful to such a degree as were these geographical 
explorations," writes Greely, "they were strictly subordi- 
nated to the obligatory observations in the interests of the 
physical sciences. Systematic and unremitting magnetic ob- 
servations served to round out knowledge by enabling scien- 
tists to calculate the secular variation of the magnetic decli- 
nation of the Smith Sound region. Apart from the general 
value of the meteorological series, it has most fully deter- 
mined the climatic conditions of Grinnell Land. 

"The tidal observations were so complete at the station 
and so amply supplemented by outlying stations, that scien- 
tists have determined not only the co-tidal lines of the Polar 
Ocean with satisfactory results, but also learned from them 
that the diurnal inequality of the tidal wave conforms at 
Fort Conger to the sidereal day. The pendulum observa- 
tions have been classed as 'far the best that have ever been 
made within the Arctic Circle' and the 'determination of 
gravity (therefrom) has been singularly successful.' Botani- 
cal, zoological, and anthropological researches were pursued 
with similar unremitting attention, so that the scientific work 
of the expedition may be considered as satisfactory and com- 
plete, — especially in view of the high latitude of the station." 

Summer had passed, and though the men had scanned the 
horizon long and earnestly for promised relief, no ship reached 
them. A second winter passed in the slow monotony charac- 
teristic of the Arctic night. 

In order to facilitate his retreat in case the relief vessel of 
1883 failed to reach him, Greely laid down 1 stores at Cape 
Baird before the sun returned in February, 1883. Under his 
orders, Lieutenant Greely was to abandon Fort Conger not 
later than September 1 and retreat southward by boat, 
until he met the relief vessel, or Littleton Island was reached, 
where he would find a fresh party with fresh stores awaiting 
him. 



FAILURE OF RELIEF SHIP "NEPTUNE" 379 

As early as December 2, 1881, active steps were taken at the 
War Department in Washington for the relief vessel of 1882, 
estimates for an appropriation of $33,000 asked for, and nego- 
tiations for supplies opened with firms at St. John's and with 
the Danish government for stores to be delivered in Green- 
land. In May, 1882, a board of officers attached to the 
Signal Service met at Washington to consider plans for the 
relief expedition. And the ultimate result was the sailing 
from St. John's, Newfoundland, on July 8, 1882, of the sealing 
vessel Neptune, with Mr. William M. Beebe, Jr., a private in 
general service, and formerly Secretary to the Chief Signal 
Officer, in charge of the relief work. 

The Neptune touched at Godhaven on the 17th and took 
on supplies; then directing her course slowly and with diffi- 
culty across Melville Bay, she came in sight of Cape York 
on the 25th; Littleton Island was reached on the 29th, where 
she was blocked by ice and obliged to return and anchor in 
Pandora Harbor. The next forty days the Neptune made 
fruitless efforts to enter Kane Sea. In the course of her many 
failures to penetrate to the north, she found anchorage between 
Cape Sabine, Brevoort Island, where Beebe examined the 
English cache made by the Discovery in 1875. This cache, 
of so much importance to Greely's men later, was found 
to contain one barrel of canned beef, two tins (forty pounds 
each) of bacon, one barrel (one hundred and ten pounds) dog- 
biscuit, two barrels (one hundred and twenty rations each) 
biscuit, all in good condition ; two hundred and forty rations, 
consisting of chocolate and sugar, tea. and sugar, potatoes, 
wicks, tobacco, salt, stearin, onion powder, and matches, in 
fairly good condition. Beebe failed to leave any provisions 
of his own. 

On August 25, after a fourth trial to penetrate the pack, the 
Neptune returned to Littleton Island with the intention of 
making depots. Natives being in the vicinity, who in all 



380 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

probability would steal any deposits left, Beebe concluded 
to postpone making the cache and proceeded to Cape Sabine. 
Here he deposited, according to his orders, two hundred and 
fifty rations, one-eighth of a cord of birch wood, and a whale- 
boat. The Neptune then made a fifth attempt to penetrate 
the pack, and again on September 2, her sixth and final effort. 
Finding it impossible to advance, she returned to Littleton 
Island, and a second depot of two hundred and fifty rations 
was cached. She now started on her homeward voyage, 
September 5, 1882. Beebe, having carried out to the letter 
his instructions from the signal office, for the relief of the 
Lady Franklin Bay expedition, and left two depots of two 
hundred and fifty rations, or ten days' supply, returned to 
St. John's, carrying safely from the barren shores of the Arctic 
two thousand rations, or a full supply for three months. 

The return of the relief party of 1882 made the expedition 
that was to follow the next summer one of grave importance. 
In the course of official communication on the subject between 
the Chief Signal Officer and the Secretary of War, General Hazen 
stated that "it is most desirable that the officer and the 
enlisted men who are to go next year, be detailed as early as 
practicable, in order that they may be trained and have ex- 
perience in rowing and managing boats, and in the use of boat 
compasses. ... It is desirable that men be selected whose 
service has been in the northwest, and it is also important that 
the entire party, before going, should be familiar with boats 
and their management under all conditions." 

In the Secretary's reply, the suggestion is volunteered, "It 
seems that it would be much more desirable to endeavour to 
procure from the Navy the persons who are needed for this 
relief party." To this General Hazen made answer : — 

"To change the full control of this duty now would be swap- 
ping horses while crossing the stream, and when in the middle 
of the stream. To manage it with mixed control, or even with 




From a portrait in the possession of A. Operti, Esq. 
Lieutenant James B. Lockwood, U.S.A. 



\ 



OFFICIAL PLANS FOR GREELY'S RELIEF IN 1S83 381 

mixed arms of the service under a single control, would be 
hazardous, and such action is strongly advised against by the 
many persons of both Army and Navy I have discussed the 
subject with. The ready knowledge of boats and instru- 
ments is but a very small part of the indispensable requisites 
in this case. This whole work has required a great deal of 
attention and study from the first, and I have not a doubt 
but any transfer of control now would result in failure to 
convey all the threads of this half-finished work, and that it 
would work disastrously in many ways. In view of these 
facts, I would consider the transfer now of any part of this 
work to any other control as very hazardous and without any 
apparent promise of advantage." 

First Lieutenant Ernest A. Garlington of the 7th Cavalry, 
having volunteered his services, was ordered, February 6, 
1883, to report at Washington. Since his graduation from 
the Military Academy in 1876, he had served with his regiment 
at Fort Buford, Dakota Territory. Four enlisted men who 
had volunteered were also ordered from Dakota. 

The Proteus was chartered and made ready for her voyage. 
A request was made by the Chief Signal Officer on the 14th of 
May that a Navy vessel should be detailed for service in con- 
nection with the expedition, "as escort to bring back informa- 
tion, render assistance, and take such other steps as might be 
necessary in case of unforeseen emergencies." The Y antic, 
under Commander Frank Wildes, was selected, and under- 
went such preparation as the limited time permitted. 

Garlington was instructed to examine, if possible, all depots 
of provisions and replace any damaged articles of food, and if 
the Proteus could not get through, the party and stores should 
be landed at Life-Boat Cove, the vessel sent back, and the party 
should remain. The Yantic was to accompany the Proteus 
as far as Littleton Island and render such assistance as might 
become necessary. Lieutenant J. C. Colwell of the Navy, 



382 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

having volunteered his services, was detailed to accompany 
Garlington. The Proteus and the Yantic left St. John's the 
29th of June, 1883, and were soon out of sight of each other. 

The Proteus encountered ice in Melville Bay. Garlington 
examined the Nares cache of eighteen hundred rations on 
Southeast Cary Island, 60 per cent of the rations proving to 
be in good condition. There is no record that the 40 per 
cent were replaced from the Proteus' s stores. 

Littleton Island was passed without a cache being left 
there. The ice prevented an advance, and Garlington there- 
upon decided to go to Cape Sabine "to examine cache there, 
leave records, and await further developments." "At half- 
past three the Proteus came to anchor at Payer Harbor," 
writes Schley. "She remained at her anchorage from 3:30 
to 8 p.m. This stay of four hours and a half at Cape Sabine 
was a turning-point in the history of the relief expedition. It 
was made up of golden moments. It is true that no one could 
predict that by that time next day the Proteus would be at the 
bottom of the Kane Sea. It is also true that Garlington's 
instructions had been officially construed as not including the 
formation of depots on the way north, and that the impor- 
tance of reaching Lady Franklin Bay had been impressed 
upon his mind as the main purpose of his enterprise. At 
the same time it was known with tolerable certainty that two 
months later Greely would be at that point, if he carried out 
his intentions ; and the commander of the relief expedition, 
although not expressly directed to land anywhere, had been 
instructed that if landings should be made at points where 
caches of provisions were located, he was, if possible, to ex- 
amine them, and replace any damaged articles of food. 

" Now there were two caches at or near Cape Sabine. One 
of them, left by Beebe the year before, was around the point 
of the cape. The other, left by Nares in 1875, was on Stalk- 
necht Island, a long, low rock in the harbour itself, due west 



"PROTEUS" CRUSHED IN ICE 383 

from Brevoort Island, and close to it. The position of the 
cache was well known. Beebe had visited it in 1882. The 
Proteus was now at Payer Harbor, probably within half a mile 
of Stalknecht Island ; and on board the vessel were the four 
depots of provisions, of two hundred and fifty rations each, 
that had been arranged at Disco to be in readiness for landing 
at some time and at any time." 

Garlington ordered two privates to land and take a set of 
observations, while he went with a party of men to examine 
the caches. The repair of a cache and the set of observations 
are all the work reported as having been done at Cape Sabine 
on the way north. 

Garlington then put to sea, and followed the open leads 
of water to the northward. After an advance of twenty 
miles, the ship was stopped by the pack near Cape Albert. 
The following day she was crushed, and the crew and relief 
party took to the floe, throwing overboard such stores and 
provisions as came to hand. Lieutenant Colwell was the last 
man to leave the ship. Garlington and his party of fifteen 
men, two whale-boats, and provisions for forty days reached 
Cape Sabine in safety. He now followed the "Wildes-Gar- 
lington agreement," which said "Should Proteus be lost, 
push a boat with party south to Y antic." 

Garlington's record left by him on Brevoort Island read in 
part : — 

"Depot landed . . . 500 rations of bread, tea, and a lot 
of canned goods. Cache of 250 rations ; left by expedition of 
1882, visited by me, and found in good condition. English 
depot in damaged condition, not visited by me. Cache on 
Littleton Island ; boat at Isabella. U. S. S. Yantic on her 
way to Littleton Island, with orders not to enter ice . . . I 
will endeavour to communicate with these vessels at once. 
Everything in power of man will be done to rescue the 
(Greely's) brave men." 



384 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

"It transpired," writes Greely, "that there was no boat 
at Isabella ; that Garlington's orders to replace damaged 
caches were imperative and disobeyed ; that he had no knowl- 
edge that the Littleton Island cache was safe ; that at 
Sabine he took every pound of food he could reach, though 
told that Greely was provisioned only to August, 1883 ; 
and that after Colwell's skill had brought Garlington safe to 
the Y antic, he did not even ask Wilde to go north and lay down 
food for Greely, otherwise doomed to starvation." 

On September 13, 1883, Garlington wrote from St. John's, 
Newfoundland, to the Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A., Washing- 
ton : — 

" It is my painful duty to report total failure of the expedi- 
tion. The Proteus was crushed in pack in latitude 70° 52', 
longitude 74° 25', and sunk on the afternoon of the 23d July. 
My party and crew all saved. Made my way across Smith 
Sound and along eastern shore of Cape York ; thence across 
Melville Bay to Upernavik, arriving there on 24th Aug. 
The Y antic reached Upernavik 2d Sept. and left same day, 
bringing entire party here to-day. All well." 

To telegraphic inquiries from the Signal Office asking 
what stores had been left for Greely, came answer : — 

"No stores landed before sinking of ship. About five 
hundred rations from those saved, cached at Cape Sabine ; 
also large cache of clothing. By the time suitable vessels 
could be procured, filled, provisioned, etc., it would be too 
late in the season to accomplish anything this year." 

We leave to the imagination the alarm aroused by the 
sudden realization of what this failure meant to our fellow- 
countrymen at Fort Conger. From July, 1882, to August, 
1883, not less than 50,000 rations were taken in the steamers 
Neptune, Y antic, and Proteus, up to or beyond Littleton Island, 
and of that number about 1000 were left in that vicinity, the 
remainder being returned to the United States or sunk with 
the Proteus. 




General A. W. Greely, U.S.A. 



Courtesy of Clincdinst 



GARLINGTOJSf'S RETREAT 385 

The date of Garlington's letter read " September 13." 
With what horror did it dawn upon the public mind that the 
abandonment of the well-supplied station at Fort Conger 
was ordered "not later than" September 1. Even now 
Greely and his men, leaving behind them a scant year's 
army rations, and carrying with them every pound of food 
possible, were making their hazardous retreat in "heavily 
laden boats through water-ways crowded with ice, acted on 
by strong currents and high winds, the recurring heavy gales, 
keeping the pack in constant motion, to and fro against the 
precipitous and rockbound coast." 

"Time and again," writes Greely, "only the most desperate 
efforts and measures secured the safety of the specially 
strengthened launch, while the whale-boat escaped destruction 
only by speedy unloading and drawing-up on floes. Every 
cache, however small, was taken up, ending with damaged, 
mouldy bread, etc., at Cape Hawks." 

Fort Conger had been abandoned August 9, 1883 ; on 
September 13, the whale-boat had been left behind (afterward 
recovered), and the men were fighting their desperate way 
across the pack to the shore. The following day Greely 
made this entry in his journal : — 

"The absence of sufficient light to cast a shadow has had 
very unfortunate results, as several of the men in the past 
few days have been sadly bruised or strained. When no 
shadows form and the light is feeble and blended, there is the 
same uncertainty about one's walk as if the deepest darkness 
prevailed. The most careful observation fails to advise you 
as to whether the next step is to be on a level, up an incline, or 
over a precipice. These conditions are perhaps the most 
trying to Sergeant Brainard, who, being in advance selecting 
our road, finds it necessary to travel as rapidly as possible. 
A few bad falls quite demoralize a man, and make him more 
than ever doubtful of his senses. Travelling slowly, with our 
2 c 



386 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

heavily laden sledges, we rarely suffer much from this trouble, 
as our steps are slow and uncertain at the best, but when a 
jar does come on a man pulling his best, it gives his system a 
great shock and strain." 

On September 17, all articles that were not of vital impor- 
tance were abandoned, and yet the men were hauling about 
six thousand pounds. At the end of a weary day Sergeant 
Brainard wrote in his journal : — 

"Turned in at 11 p.m., after ten hours of the severest 
physical strain. As the sleeping-bags (of those of us in the 
tepee) are protected from the ice by only one thickness of 
canvas, our comfort can be imagined." 

Three days later he adds : — 

"We are now carrying burdens which would crush ordinary 
men, but the texture of the party is of the right sort, and 
adversity will have very little effect on our spirits." 

On September 29, 1883, Greely made a landing at a 
point midway between Cape Sabine and Isabella, after fifty- 
one days of the most arduous travel. 

"The retreat from Conger to Cape Sabine," writes Greely, 
"involved over four hundred miles' travel by boats, and fully 
a hundred with sledge and boat ; the greater part of which 
was made under circumstances of such great peril or immi- 
nence of danger as to test to the utmost the courage, coolness, 
and endurance of any party, and the capacity of any com- 
mander. As to my officers and men, it is but scant justice to 
say that they faced resolutely every danger, endured cheerfully 
every hardship, and were fully equal to every emergency 
(and they were many) of our eventful retreat." 

On October 5, Lieutenant Lockwood says : — 

"We have now three chances for our lives : First, finding 
American cache sufficient at Sabine or at Isabella ; second, 
of crossing the straits when our present rations are gone ; 
third, of shooting sufficient seal and walrus near by here to 



greely' s abandonment of fort conger 387 

last during the winter. Our situation is certainly alarming in 
the extreme." 

These men were shelterless, with but a small food supply, 
with impassable barriers of ice north and south. "Some 
hunted on land, others on ice ; some put up stone huts, 
others searched for cairns and records." The Arctic night 
had settled upon them before their huts were barely finished, 
these huts of heavy granite stones, dug from the snow and ice, 
lifted with swollen and bleeding hands, put in place with 
back-breaking efforts, by enfeebled, weary men, and into 
them they crawled with torn clothing, hand and footgear in 
holes, covering shivering, aching bodies. 

In this desperate plight, scouts returned with news of the 
sinking of the Proteus and with the notice from Lieutenant 
Garlington, describing the disaster, his plans and his retreat, 
and the caches of provisions at Cape Sabine. Relying on the 
expressed promise that "everything within the power of man 
will be done to rescue the brave men at Fort Conger from 
their perilous position," Greely at once endeavoured to move 
his party near that point. "Camp Clay" was established on 
Bedford Pirn Island, which was reached October 15, with forty 
days' rations to tide over two hundred and fifty days of dark- 
ness and misery until help could come. Another hut was 
erected by the same arduous methods employed in building 
former huts. The rock walls were about two feet thick 
and three feet high ; outside this wall was an embankment of 
snow at first four feet thick, but as the season advanced the 
winter gales buried the hut entirely in snow. 

"The whale-boat just caught on the end walls, and under 
that boat was the only place in which a man could even get 
on his knees and hold himself erect. Sitting in our bags, 
the heads of the tall men touched the roof." "Compared to 
our previous quarters," writes Greely, "the house is warm, but 
we are so huddled and crowded together that the confinement 



388 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

is almost intolerable. The men, though wretched from cold, 
hard work, and hunger, yet retain their spirits wonderfully." 

It now behooved the party to gather in the stores from 
all the caches, and this was done under the most trying condi- 
tions. The news of the loss of the Jeannette was learned by a 
newspaper found among the stores and brought in with other 
articles. Records and instruments of the Lady Franklin 
Bay expedition were safely cached early in October on Stalk- 
necht Island. 

During the few remaining days of light, the hunter, Long, 
with the Eskimo, remained out of the floe in the intense cold, 
ill fed, without shelter, for the purpose of securing seals or 
other game that might be seen. A seal was all that was se- 
cured under the most trying circumstances. 

When certain of the stores were examined to ascertain 
their condition, the dog biscuits were evidently bad, but 
"When this bread, thoroughly rotten and covered with green 
mould, was thrown on the ground, the half-famished men 
sprang to it as wild animals would." October 26, 1883, marked 
the last day of sunlight for one hundred and ten days. The 
hunters still pursued their labours, but without success. How- 
ever, on the last day of the month, " Bender was fortunate 
enough to kill a blue fox with his fist ; it was caught with its 
head in a meat-can." 

All rations had been collected except one hundred and 
forty-four pounds of beef cached by Nares in 1875, forty 
miles distant at Cape Isabella. A further reduction of the 
quantity of food served to each man was inaugurated No- 
vember 1. The following day Rice, Frederick, Elison, and 
Lynn started in the Arctic night for Cape Isabella ; on the 
fifth day out they reached their destination after the most 
hazardous travel in temperatures ranging from —20° 
to —25° with only sixteen ounces of food per day to each 
man. Taking up their cache of meat, they started on the 



GBEELY BEACHES CAPE SABINE 389 

return journey. On reaching their first camp after fourteen 
hours of hard travel, Elison, who had done this clay's work on a 
cup of tea and no food, was found to have frozen both his hands 
and feet. "Our sleeping-bag was no more nor less than a 
sheet of ice," writes Frederick in his journal. "I placed one 
of Elison's hands between my thighs, and Rice took the other, 
and in this way we drew the frost from his poor frozen limbs. 
This poor fellow cried all night from pain. This was one of 
the worst nights I ever spent in the Arctic." 

Continuing the next two days with their half-frozen com- 
rade, they reached Eskimo Point. Here they cut up an 
abandoned ice-boat for fuel, and endeavoured to thaw out 
Elison's limbs and dry his clothing. "When the poor fellow's 
face, feet, and hands commenced to thaw from the artificial 
heat," says Frederick, "his sufferings were such that it was 
enough to bring the strongest to tears." 

After labouring nineteen hours for the welfare of their 
suffering comrade, Rice and Frederick attempted to advance. 
— "We tried to keep Elison in front of us, but to no avail. 
He would stagger off to one side, and it seemed every moment 
that the frost was striking deeper into the poor man's flesh. 
We fastened a rope to his arm and the sledge, as it now took 
three men to haul our load, but every few rods the poor fellow 
would fall, and then sometimes he was dragged several feet. 
No person can imagine how that poor man suffered." 

Unable to haul Elison any farther, in the face of a gale 
and the piercing temperature of — 20°, it was decided that Rice 
should start for Camp Clay for assistance. With only a bit of 
frozen meat for food, he started alone in the Arctic darkness 
and travelled twenty-five miles in sixteen hours, reaching the 
camp at midnight. Immediate relief was started, Sergeant 
Brainard and Christiansen leading the advance, to be fol- 
lowed two hours later by Lieutenant Lockwood, the doctor, 
and four of the men. 



390 THE GREAT WRITE NORTE 

The fearful night spent by Frederick, Lynn, and their 
frozen companion can hardly be pictured. "We tried to 
warm him," says Frederick, "but as we lay helpless and 
shivering with the cold, and poor Elison groaning with hun- 
ger (his frozen lips did not permit him to gnaw the frozen 
meat) and pain, you can imagine how we felt. Lynn was a 
strong, able-bodied man, but the mental strain caused by 
Elison's sufferings made him weak and helpless. In fact, 
I was afraid that his mind would be impaired at one time. 
We were but a few hours in the bag when it became frozen so 
hard that we could not turn over, and we had to lay in one 
position eighteen hours ; until, to our great relief, we heard 
Brainard's cheering voice at our side. There was nothing 
more welcome than the presence of that noble man, who had 
come in advance with brandy for Elison and food for all." 

The rescue party, although weak and half-starved them- 
selves, reached Elison with all despatch to find him in a very 
critical condition; his hands and feet were frozen solid; his 
face frozen to such an extent that there was little semblance 
of humanity. 

If November was ushered in with such misfortune, the 
succeeding months record a history of unparalleled misery and 
suffering. The hunters were ever on the alert, and the occa- 
sional game brought in was the only cheer that surrounded 
these famishing outcasts. A seal, a bear, a few foxes, dovekies, 
and ptarmigan were all that the desolate land gave forth to 
the unremitting vigilance of the hunters, and, reduced to the 
last extremities of famine, shrimps, seaweed, reindeer-moss, 
saxifrage, and lichens were diligently sought for and devoured. 

On Thanksgiving Day, — what irony in the mere name, — 
these men celebrated by a little extra allowance of food — and 
Greely wrote in his journal : — 

"To-day we have been almost happy, and had almost enough 
to eat." 



THE BEGINNING OF A HARD WINTER 391 

On December 9, there is rejoicing because Brainard and 
Long shot two blue foxes. 

"We are all very weak," writes Lieutenant Lockwood, ten 
days later, "and I feel an apathy and cloudiness impossible 
to shake off. It is a great difficulty to know each night just 
how much bread to save for breakfast on the morrow, — hun- 
ger to-night fights hunger to-morrow morning. I always eat 
my bread regretfully. If I eat it before tea, I regret that I did 
not keep it ; and if I wait until tea comes, and then eat it, I 
drink my tea hastily and do not get the satisfaction I other- 
wise would. What a miserable life, when a few crumbs of 
bread weigh so on one's mind ! It seems to be so with all the 
rest. All sorts of expedients are tried to cheat one's stomach, 
but with about the same result." 

On December 21, Lieutenant Greely says : — 

"Sergeant Brainard is twenty-seven to-day. I gave him 
half a gill of rum extra on that account, regretting my inabil- 
ity to do more for him. He has worked exceedingly hard for 
us this winter ; and, while all have done their best, his endur- 
ance, unusual equanimity of temper, and impartial justice 
in connection with the food have been of invaluable service 
to me." 

"Mouldy hard bread and two cans of soup make a dinner 
for twelve," says Brainard. "At Fort Conger ten cans of 
soup were needed to begin dinner. But even the dire calam- 
ity which now confronts us is insufficient to repress the great 
flow of good nature in our party generally." 

"A terrible scene occurred in our wretched hut during the 
morning," writes Brainard, March 24, 1884. ""While prepar- 
ing breakfast (tea) the cooks had forgotten to remove the 
bundle of rags from the ventilators in the roof, and the fumes 
thrown off by the alcohol lamps, being confined to the small 
breathing space, soon produced asphyxia. Biederbick, one 
of the cooks, was the first to succumb to its effects, and 



392 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Israel immediately afterwards became insensible. At the 
suggestion of Gardiner, all the rest of us rushed for the door, 
and the plugs were at once removed from the roof and the 
lamps extinguished. By prompt attention, Dr. Pavy suc- 
ceeded in reviving Israel and Biederbick. Those who went 
outside were less fortunate than those who fainted in their 
bags. As soon as they came in contact with the pure outside 
air, all strength departed, and they fell down on the snow in an 
unconscious state. In consequence of the absence of all 
animation, many of us were frost-bitten — Lieutenant Greely 
and myself quite severely. The lives of several of the men 
were probably saved through the noble efforts of Gardiner, 
who, though weak and sick, did all in his power to get us in the 
hut. . . . During the excitement of the hour about half a 
pound of bacon was stolen from Lieutenant Greely's mess, 
and as soon as the fact became known, great indignation was 
expressed that in our midst lived a man with nature so vile 
and corrupt — so utterly devoid of all feelings of humanity — ■ 
as to steal from his starving companions when they were 
thought to be dying. A deed so contemptible and heartless 
could not long remain concealed from those who had been 
injured. We were not disappointed in the discovery that 
Henry was the thief. He had literally bolted the bacon, and 
his stomach was overloaded to such a degree that, in its en- 
feebled state, it could not retain this unusual quantity of 
food, and his crime was thus detected. Jens afterwards 
reported having seen him commit the theft, and illustrated 
by signs his manner of doing it." 

"Poor suffering Elison!" he writes a few days later. 
"This morning he turned to the doctor and said, 'My toes 
are burning dreadfully, and the soles of my feet are itching in 
a very uncomfortable manner; can you not do something to 
relieve this irritation ? ' He little dreams that he has neither 
toes nor feet : they having sloughed off in January.' 



DEATH FROM STARVATION 393 

On March 21, Greely makes this entry : — 

"A storm prevents hunting. ... It is surprising with 
what calmness we view death, which, strongly as we may hope, 
seems now inevitable." 

As the gaunt and ghostly form of Death laid its fatal 
touch upon the weakest one by one, a strong man stole food 
from comrades, and stole again, and justly forfeited his right 
to live. Then one by one they died, the Eskimo, Christiansen, 
from exhaustion, and Lynn. "He asked for water just before 
dying ; and we had none to give." 

Then Rice sacrificed his life for others, dying in the arms 
of his comrade, Frederick, near Baird Inlet, where he had 
gone in search of a hundred pounds of English beef abandoned 
in November, that Elison might be brought to camp alive. 
Then Lock wood died and Jewell failed — and soon joined his 
sleeping comrades, and yet in face of horror crowding upon 
horror, there is an entry : — 

"On Easter Sunday we heard on our roof a snow-bird 
chirping loudly — the first harbinger of spring." 

In the meantime, the chief dependence of this rapidly 
diminishing party was derived from the gathering of shrimps 
■ — or sea-lice; the small Crustacea were from one-eighth to 
one-half of an inch in length, consisting of about four-fifths 
shell and one-fifth meat, and about seven hundred of them 
were required to weigh an ounce. 

"Dr. Pavy says," writes Brainard in his journal, May 20, 
1884, "that our food must be something more substantial 
than these shrimps, or none of us can live long. I caught 
twelve pounds of these animals to-day, and one pound of 
marine vegetation. Returned very much exhausted from this 
trip. Cannot last much longer." 

"Caterpillars are now quite numerous on the bare spots of 
Cemetery Bridge," he writes a day or two later. "Yesterday 
Bender saw one of these animals crawling over a rock near the 



394 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

tent, and after watching it intently for a moment he hastily 
transferred it to his mouth, remarking as he did so, 'This is 
too much meat to lose.' " 

On May 29 there was a southeast gale and drifting snow. 
Brainard and Long returned from their day's hunting with 
a few pounds of shrimps and a dovekie. "On returning to 
the tent," writes Brainard, "Dr. Pavy and Lalor refused to 
admit me to their sleeping-bag, in which I occupied a place. 
Physically I could not enforce my rights in this matter, my 
condition bordering on extreme exhaustion, and wishing to 
avoid any unpleasantness, I crawled into one of the aban- 
doned bags lying outside, as the only alternative. This bag 
was frozen and filled with snow. Can my sufferings be imag- 
ined ? They certainly cannot be described. 

"Suffering with rheumatism, and smarting under the sense 
of wrong done me by my sleeping-bag companions, mental 
agony was added to physical torture. 

"To-day I caught six pounds of shrimps. This evening 
(June 6) dinner consisted of a stew composed of two boot- 
soles, a handful of reindeer moss, and a few rock lichens. 
The small quantity of shrimps which I furnish daily are suffi- 
cient only for the morning meal. 

"Wednesday, June 11, 1884. Long returned at 1 : 30 a.m. 
from the open water, bringing with him two fine guille- 
mots which he had killed. One of these was given to the 
general mess, and the other will be divided among those who 
are doing the heavy work for their weaker companions. 
This evening a great misfortune befell me. The spring tides 
have broken out the ice at the shrimping place, and my nets 
have been carried away and lost ; my baits, poor and miser- 
able as they were, are gone also. It is anything but pleasant 
to reflect that to-morrow morning we will have no breakfast 
except a cup of tea. It was quite late when I returned this 
evening from shrimping, and everybody had retired. I did 



DEATH FROM STARVATION 395 

not have the heart to awaken the poor fellows, but I let them 
sleep on quietly under the delusion that breakfast would 
await them at the usual hour in the morning. How I pity 
them ! 

"I made a flag, or distress signal, as it might be more 
properly termed, which I intend placing on the high, rocky 
point just north of our tent, where it may be seen by any 
vessel passing Cape Sabine." 

Ten days later the whistle of the Thetis blown by Captain 
Schley's orders to recall his searching parties fell lightly on 
the ears of the dying Commander of the Lady Franklin Bay 
expedition. 

"I feebly asked Brainard and Long if they had strength 
to go out," writes Greely, "and they answered, as always, 
that they would do their best." 

From the cutter, as it entered the cove, Lieutenant Colwell, 
straining his eyes, recognized the familiar landmarks of the 
year before. 

"There, on the top of a little ridge, fifty or sixty yards 
above the ice-foot, was plainly outlined the figure of a man. 
Instantly the coxswain caught up the boat-hook and waved 
the flag. The man on the ridge had seen them, for he stooped, 
picked up a signal flag from the rock, and waved it in reply. 
Then he was seen coming slowly and cautiously down the 
steep, rocky slope. Twice he fell down before he reached the 
foot. As he approached, still walking feebly and with diffi- 
culty, Colwell hailed him from the bow of the boat : — 

'"Who all are there left?' 

" ' Seven left.' " 

"As the cutter struck the ice," continues Schley, "Colwell 
jumped off and went up to him. He was a ghastly sight. 
His cheeks were hollow, his eyes wild, his hair and beard 
long and matted. His army blouse, covering several thick- 
nesses of shirts and jackets, was ragged and dirty. He 



396 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

wore a little fur cap and rough moccasins of untanned leather 
tied around the leg. As he spoke, his utterance was thick 
and mumbling, and in his agitation his jaws worked in con- 
vulsive twitches. As the two met, the man, with a sudden 
impulse, took off his glove and shook Colwell's hand. 

" 'Where are they?' asked Colwell, briefly. 

'"In the tent,' said the man, pointing over his shoulder, 
'over the hill — the tent is down.' 

'"Is Mr. Greely alive?' 

" 'Yes, Greely 's alive.' 

" 'Any other officers?' 

"'No.' Then he repeated absently, 'The tent is down.' 

" 'Who are you?' 

"'Long.'' 

"Before this colloquy was over, Lowe and Norman had 
started up the hill. Hastily filling his pockets with bread, 
and taking the two cans of pemmican, Colwell told the cox- 
swain to take Long into the cutter, and started after the 
others with Ash. Reaching the crest of the ridge and looking 
southward, they saw spread out before them a desolate ex- 
panse of rocky ground, sloping gradually from a ridge on the 
east to the ice-covered shore, which at the west made in and 
formed a cove. Back of the level space was a range of hills 
rising up eight hundred feet, with a precipitous face, broken 
in two by a gorge, through which the wind was blowing furi- 
ously. On a little elevation directly in front was the tent. 
Hurrying on across the intervening hollow, Colwell came up 
with Lowe and Norman, just as they were greeting a soldierly- 
looking man, who had come out from the tent. 

" As Colwell approached, Norman was saying to the man, — 

" 'There is the Lieutenant.' 

" And he added to Colwell, — 

*' 'This is Sergeant Brainard.' 

" Brainard immediately drew himself up to the 'Position of 



SCHLEY'S BRILLIANT RESCUE 397 

the soldier/ and was about to salute, when Col well took his 
hand. 

" At this moment there was a confused murmur within the 
tent, and a voice said, — 

'"Who's there?' 

" Norman answered, 'It's Norman — Norman who was in 
the Proteus.' 

"This was followed by cries of 'Oh, it's Norman !' and a 
sound like a feeble cheer. 

" Meanwhile one of the relief party, who in his agitation 
and excitement was crying like a child, was down on his 
hands and knees trying to roll away the stones that held down 
the flapping tent cloth. . . . There was no entrance, except 
under the flap opening, which was held down by stones. 
Colwell called for a knife, cut a slit in the tent cover, and 
looked in." 

"It was a sight of horror," continues Schley. "On one 
side, close to the opening, with his head toward the outside, 
lay what was apparently a dead man. His jaw had dropped, 
his eyes were open, but fixed and glassy, his limbs were motion- 
less. On the opposite side was a poor fellow, alive, to be sure, 
but without hands or feet, and with a spoon tied to the stump 
of his right arm. Two others, seated on the ground, in the 
middle, had just got down a rubber bottle that hung on the 
tent pole, and were pouring from it in a tin can. Directly 
opposite, on his hands and knees, was a dark man with a long 
matted beard, in a dirty and tattered dressing-gown, with a 
little red skull cap on his head, and brilliant, staring eyes. 
As Colwell appeared, he raised himself a little, and put on a 
pair of eye-glasses. 

" ' Who are you ? ' asked Colwell. 

" The man made no answer, staring at him vacantly. 

" ' Who are you ? ' again. 

" One of the men spoke up, — 



398 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

" ' That's the Major — Major Greely.' 

" Col well crawled in and took him by the hand, saying to 
him, — 

" ' Greely, is this you ? ' 

" ' Yes/ said Greely, in a faint, broken voice, hesitating and 
shuffling with his words; 'yes — seven of us left — here we 
are — dying — like men. Did what I came to do — beat the 
best record.' 

"The scene, as Colwell looked around, was one of misery and 
squalor. The rocky floor was covered with cast-off clothes, 
and among them were huddled together the sleeping-bags 
in which the party had spent most of their time during the 
last few months. There was no food left in the tent, but two 
or three cans of a thin, repulsive-looking jelly, made by boiling 
strips cut from the sealskin clothing. The bottle on the tent- 
pole still held a few teaspoonfuls of brandy, but it was their 
last, and they were sharing it as Colwell entered. It was evi- 
dent that most of them had not long to live. 

" Colwell immediately sent Chief Engineer Lowe back to 
the cutter to put off to the Bear with Long to report and to 
bring the surgeon with stimulants, while he fed the dying 
men with bits of the food he had with him. As their hunger 
returned, they cried piteously for more ; fearing too much at 
one time would injure them, Colwell wisely dissuaded them, 
but ' when Greely found that he was refused, he took a can 
of the boiled sealskin, which he had carefully husbanded, and 
which he said he had a right to eat, as it was his own.' 

"The weaker ones were like children, petulant, rambling, 
and fitful in their talk, absent, and sometimes a little inco- 
herent." 

The Bear having by this time arrived, Sergeant Long 
was lifted from the cutter aboard, and there told his pitiful 
tale ; all were dead except Greely and five others, and they 
were on shore in "Sore distress — sore distress"; it had been 



SCHLEY'S BRILLIANT RESCUE 399 

"a hard winter," and "the wonder was how in God's name 
they had pulled through." 

"No words," says Schley, "can describe the pathos of 
this man's broken and enfeebled utterance, as he said over 
and over, ' a hard winter — a hard winter ' ; and the offi- 
cers who were gathered about him in the ward room felt an 
emotion which most of them were at little pains to con- 
ceal." 

Soon after the Thetis came in sight, and her officers, 
including brave Melville, whose last sad offices for De Long 
had been but lately finished, went ashore and aided those from 
the Bear in the care and succour of the forlorn party. 

As soon as possible the men were carefully moved on 
stretchers and carried in boats to the ships, but not before a 
hurricane had broken upon them, which made the labour 
hazardous and difficult. 

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Emory of the Bear was making a 
careful collection of all articles belonging to the camp. Near 
the sleeping-bags were found little packages of cherished 
valuables, carefully rolled up, and addressed to friends and 
relatives at home ; the survivors, too, had already done up 
and addressed their own, and, strange as it may seem, a pocket- 
book was found containing a large roll of bills carried by the 
owner for some unaccountable reason to the barren shores of 
Lady Franklin Bay. It was not difficult to move the bodies of 
the dead ; there was only a thin covering of sand above the 
mounds that formed the graves. 

Looking out from the side of the hut to the ice-foot, 
Col well's attention was fixed by a dark object on the snow. 
Following a path which led to it from where he stood, he found 
the mutilated remains of a man's body. 

"It was afterward identified from a bullet hole," writes 
Schley, "as that of Private Henry, who had been executed 
on the sixth of June." 



400 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Wrapping it in a blanket, Colwell carried it to the landing- 
place, where a seaman took the bundle on his shoulder. 
Presently the boat came off, and all who had remained on 
shore were taken on board the Bear. The ships returned to 
Payer Harbor. 

The next day, June 23, Lieutenant Emory, accompanied 
by Sebree and Melville, and a number of men made a second 
search at Camp Clay, which lasted several hours ; everything 
was gathered up and brought away. 

The officers of the Thetis meanwhile had secured from 
Stalknecht Island Greely's tin boxes containing his scientific 
records and standard pendulum. 

The relief squadron in 1884 under Captain W. S. Schley 
and Commander W. H. Emory, and fitted out under the 
personal orders of the Hon. W. E. Chandler, Secretary of the 
Navy, had brilliantly executed its commission and had out- 
rivalled the early Scotch whalers, to whom a bounty had been 
offered by Congress for the speedy rescue of Greely, in push- 
ing boldly through the "middle ice." "No relief or expedi- 
tionary vessels ever ventured at so early a date into the 
dangers of Melville Bay," writes Greely. 

"That the United States Navy won in the race for Sabine 
is an illustration of the wonderful adaptability and abundant 
resources of the representative American seaman, which so 
well fits him for coping successfully with new and untried 
dangers and makes him a worthy rival of our kin across the 
sea." 

In triumph they bore the remnant of the Lady Franklin 
Bay expedition home to relatives and friends. Only six 
reached America alive (brave, pitiful Elison had died at God- 
haven, July 8), six soldiers out of a company of twenty-five, 
broken in health, yet courageous in spirit, and loyal to a nation 
that through "a hard winter — a hard winter — in sore 
distress — " had left them to their fate ! 




Rear Admiral Schley, U.S.N. 



Courtesy of Clinedinst 



CHAPTER XX 

Nansen. — The man. — First Arctic experience. — Plans the cross- 
ing of Greenland. — Carries out his great undertaking. — Voyage 
on the Front. — Drifting with the current. — Life aboard. — 
Nansen and Johannesen start for the Pole. — Difficulties of travel.. 
The " Farthest North." — The retreat. — A winter on the Franz 
Josef Land. — Attempt to reach Spitzbergen by kayak. — The 
meeting at Cape Flora with Frederick Jackson. — Home in the 
Windward. 

The character of the explorer Nansen is best summarized 
in the brief paragraph explaining his plan for the first crossing 
of Greenland. 

"My notion," he says, "was that if a party of good 'ski- 
lobers' were equipped in a practical and sensible way, they 
must get across Greenland if they began from the right side, 
this latter point being of extreme importance. For if they 
were to start, as all other expeditions have done, from the 
west side, they were practically certain never to get across. 
They would have the same journey back again in order to 
reach home. So it struck me that the only sure road to suc- 
cess was to force a passage through the floe-belt, land on the 
desolate and ice-bound east coast, and thence cross over to the 
inhabited west coast. In this way one would burn all one's 
ships behind one, there would be no need to urge one's men 
on, as the east coast would attract no one back, while in front 
would lie the west coast with all the allurements and amenities 
of civilization. There was no choice of route, 'forward' being 
the only word. The order would be : ' Death or the west coast 
of Greenland.' " 

2d 401 



402 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Between these lines one sees the fibre of this man, who de- 
liberately stakes out his course and invites a race with 
Death to the goal of victory; who carefully curtails to the 
minimum the possibility of failure ; who thoughtfully re- 
moves from weaker companions all temptations that might 
jeopardize his chances of success, and who carries through 
a plan scoffed at by the world as the impracticable scheme 
of a madman. 

There is an indescribable charm about this bold Norwegian, 
"who was a terrible one for falling into brown studies," as 
a child ; of whom his masters wrote, "He is unstable, and in 
several subjects his progress is not nearly so satisfactory as 
might have been expected" ; who combines a gentle, child- 
like disposition with an indomitable will, never doubting 
for an instant that he is right and the world wrong, and who 
steadfastly goes to work to prove his point. Born in 1861 
near Christiania ; educated in the university of his native 
city ; fond of all the sciences ; trained as a zoologist ; a nat- 
ural athlete, an expert "skilober," a good hunter, with the 
spirit for adventure, which is totally careless of all creature 
comforts, Fridtjof Nansen, at twenty-one, stood on the 
prow of the Viking, a Norwegian sealer, bound for Arctic 
seas, ready to meet a foe worthy of his mettle. 

This trip to East Greenland waters for the purpose of 
gathering zoological specimens was followed by his appoint- 
ment the same year as curator in the Natural History Museum 
at Bergen. 

The return of Nordenskjold in 1883, from his second re- 
markable journey to Greenland, determined Nansen upon a 
similar journey, the success of which he carefully planned. 
Nordenskjold had made fifteen marches on the inland ice 
from Sophia Harbor south to Disco Bay, and reached an alti- 
tude of forty-nine hundred feet, sending skilled Lapps on skis 
a farther distance of one hundred and forty miles, where they 



FIRST ARCTIC EXPERIENCE 403 

reached an elevation of sixty-six hundred feet, on the marvel- 
lous ice-cap which still rose before them. 

Accompanied by three Norwegians, Otto Sverdrup, Lieu- 
tenant Oluf Christian Dietrichson, of the Norwegian army, 
and Kristian Trana, and two Lapps, Balto and Ravna, Nansen 
sailed on the Danish steamer Thyra from Scotland, May 9, 
1888. The Thyra was to carry the little band of explorers 
the first stage of their journey to Iceland. At the Faroe 
Islands, Nansen learned of the extremely bad condition of 
the ice round Iceland. The east coast of the island was re- 
ported inaccessible. By May 17 the Thyra stood off the 
Vestmanna Islands, and later she passed Reydjanaes, which 
carries the only lighthouse Iceland possesses. 

Anchoring off Thingeyre, the party took leave of the 
Thyra, and, warmly welcomed by Herr Gram, the merchant of 
Thingeyre, they awaited the Jason, which was to convey them 
to the coast of Greenland. On the morning of June 3, the 
expectant party sighted a little steamer slowly working in- 
wards. As she came nearer, she was found to be the Isafold 
of the Norwegian Whaling Company. She anchored and sent 
a boat on shore amid increasing excitement. "I had begun 
to suspect the truth," says Nansen, "when, to my astonish- 
ment as well as joy, I recognized in the first man who stepped 
ashore Captain Jacobsen of the Jason. Our meeting was 
almost frantic, but the story was soon told. He had reached 
Isafjord, and, not finding us there, had thought of coming 
on to Dyrafjord with the Jason. But with the strong wind 
blowing it would have taken his heavily rigged ship a whole 
day to make the voyage, and, as the Norwegian Company's 
manager most kindly offered to send the Isafold to fetch us, 
he had taken the opportunity of coming too. 

"Farewells were hastily said; willing hands transferred 
the baggage, which consisted, in addition to the usual Alpine 
outfit, of Canadian and Norwegian snow-shoes, instruments, 



404 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

food, fuel, and sleeping gear, a load of twelve hundred pounds 
for their five sledges; and a restive and unwilling pony bought 
of Herr Gram, and the Isafold steamed out of the fiord and to 
the northwards." 

For six weeks the Jason made fruitless attempts to land 
the impatient explorers on this barren coast of Greenland, 
when, July 17, 1888, Nansen and his party attempted by boat 
to make Cape Dan, from which they were separated by an 
ice stream ten miles wide. 

"When Ravna saw the ship for the last time," writes Balto, 
the Lapp, "he said to me : 'What fools we were to leave her 
to die in this place. There is no hope of life ; the great sea 
will be our graves V" > 

Sleeping upon the floes at night, dragging or rowing their 
boats by day, the journey to the coast was perilous and dan- 
gerous in the extreme. After several days they found them- 
selves being carried south upon the floe and "straight away 
from shore, at a pace that rendered all resistance completely 
futile." 

"July 20," says Nansen, "I was roused by some violent 
shocks to the floe on which we were encamped, and thought 
the motion of the sea must have increased very considerably. 
When we get outside we discover that the floe has split in 
two not far from the tent. The Lapps, who had at once 
made for the highest points of our piece of ice, now shout 
that they can see the open sea. . . . 

"The swell is growing heavier and heavier, and the water 
breaking over our floe with ever-increasing force. The 
blocks of ice and slush, which come from the grinding of the 
floes together and are thrown up round the edges of our piece, 
do a good deal to break the violence of the waves. The 
worst of it is that we are being carried seawards with ominous 
rapidity." 

Taking refuge upon a stronger and larger floe, the party 



PLANS THE CROSSING OF GREENLAND 405 

awaited the issue with courage and resignation, though it 
must be confessed the poor Lapps were not in the best of 
spirits. "They had given up hope of life, and were making 
ready for death." A night of fearful promise succeeded a 
day of imminent peril. Sverdrup took the watch and paced 
alone the sea-washed floe. Several times he had stood by 
the tent door prepared to turn his comrades out. 

"Once he actually undid one hood," says Nansen, "took 
another turn to the boats, and then another look at the surf, 
leaving the hood unfastened in case of accidents. A huge 
crag of ice was swaying in the sea close beside us, and threat- 
ening every moment to fall upon our floe. The surf was 
washing us on all sides. . . . The other boat, in which Balto 
was asleep, was washed so heavily that again and again Sver- 
drup had to hold it in its place." 

A second time he came to undo the tent hood, but just as 
things looked their worst, the floe changed her course and as 
if directed by an unseen hand, sailed toward land, and took 
refuge in a good harbour. On July 29, the fates were kind, and 
they made a landing at Anoritok, 62° 05' N., nearly two hun- 
dred miles south of Cape Dan. Following the shore to the 
north, they fell in with natives near Cape Bille. 

The ice journey commenced from Ninivik 64° 45' N., 
which was reached August 10, after pursuing their journey up 
steep, irregular slopes, covered with soft snow and beset with 
dangerous crevasses ; they made only forty miles inland after 
seventeen days of most arduous travel, and reached an ele- 
vation of six thousand feet. 

"It was now late in the year," writes Nansen, "and the 
autumn of the 'inland ice' was not likely to prove a gentle 
season, so the fact that it was considerably shorter crossing 
to the head of one of the fiords in the neighbourhood of 
Godthaab to Christianshaab was an argument that had its 
weight. ... I consulted the map again and again, made 



406 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

the calculations to myself, and finally determined upon the 
Godthaab route. . . . The point where I thought of getting 
down was that which we actually hit, and which lies at about 
latitude 64° 10' N. . . . The rest of the party hailed my 
change of plan with acclamation. They seemed to have 
already had more than enough of 'inland ice/ were longing 
for kindlier scenes, and gave their unqualified approval to 
the new route." 

Sails had been rigged to the sleds, and with the terrific winds 
which swept the ice-cap, advance was assisted by this means, 
the men marching on skis. So frightful were the storms that 
raged over these desolate snow fields that at night it seemed 
as if the tent would be torn to shreds, and before a start could 
be made in the morning, the sledges had to be dug out of the 
drifts and unloaded so that their runners might be scraped 
clean of snow and ice, "a task which we found anything but 
grateful in the biting wind, . . . but the cruellest work of 
the whole day was getting the tent up in the evening, for we 
had to begin by lacing the floor and walls together ; as this 
had to be done with the unprotected fingers, we had to take 
good care not to get them seriously frozen." "One evening 
when I was at work," says Nansen, "I suddenly discovered 
that the fingers of both my hands were white up to the palms. 
I felt them and found they were as hard and senseless as wood. 
By rubbing and beating them, however, I soon set the blood 
in circulation and brought their colour back." 

The Lapps suffered from snow-blindness, and all were 
burned by the sun's rays. This was largely due to the want of 
density in the air, and the reflection of the rays from the level 
expanse of snow. 

"About ten in the morning of August 31," writes Dietrich- 
son, "we saw land for the last time. We were upon the crest 
of one of the great waves, or gentle undulations in the surface, 
and had our final glimpse of a little point of rock which pro- 



C AERIES OUT HIS UNDERTAKINGS 407 

truded from the snow. It lay, of course, far in the interior, 
and for many days had been the only dark point, save our- 
selves and the sledges, on which our eyes could rest." 

At an altitude of nearly eight thousand feet, they toiled 
on for days over the interminable desert of snow ; there was 
no break in the horizon, no object to rest the eye upon, and 
a course was laid out by the diligent use of the compass alone. 
From the second week in September the party had been anx- 
iously looking for the beginning of the western slope. On 
September 19, Balto's joyful cry of "Land ahead!" greeted 
the advancing sledge fleet. The ice conditions had become 
more formidable in character, the gradual descent treacherous 
in the extreme. 

"It was a curious sight for me to see the two vessels coming 
rushing along behind me," says Nansen, "with their square 
Viking-like sails showing dark against the white snow 
fields and the big round disk of the moon behind. Faster and 
faster I go flying on, while the ice gets more and more diffi- 
cult. There is worse still ahead, I can see, and in another 
moment I am into it. The ground is here seamed with cre- 
vasses, but they are full of snow and not dangerous. Every 
now and then I feel my staff go through into space, but the 
cracks are narrow and the sledges glide easily over. Presently 
I cross a broader one, and see just in front of me a huge black 
abyss. I creep cautiously to its edge on the slippery ice, 
which here is covered by scarcely any snow, and look down 
into the deep, dark chasm. Beyond it I can see crevasse after 
crevasse, running parallel with one another, and showing 
dark blue in the moonlight. I now tell the others to stop, 
as this is no ground to traverse in the dark, and we must halt 
for the night." 

The joy of having crossed the ice-cap and the prospect of 
successfully passing the inland ice to the more congenial soil 
of the western coast caused the little band to meet cheerfully 



408 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

the most arduous labour in a perilous descent over crevasses 
and glacier, mountain, and valley into the promised land, of 
which old Ravna spoke with enthusiasm : — 

" I like the west coast well ; it is a good place for an old Lapp 
to live in ; there are plenty of reindeer ; it is just like the 
mountains of Finmarken." ■ 

Having reached the coast, it became essential to reach 
civilization as well, and to expedite the journey it was found 
desirable to go by sea. The lack of a boat was a small con- 
sideration to men who had boldly sailed sledges across the 
Greenland ice-cap — for though wood, tools, and materials 
were lacking, there was the tent and plenty of willow bushes 
around, some six or seven feet in height. "Bibs made of 
these would not be as straight as we could wish," says Nansen, 
"and would not stretch the canvas very evenly, but the main 
thing was to get her to carry us. . . . By the evening the 
boat was finished. She was no boat for a prize competition, 
indeed in shape she was more like a tortoise-shell than 
anything else." 

In this crazy little craft Nansen and Sverdrup rowed away 
to get relief from the inhabitants of Godthaab. Their com- 
panions remained in Ameralikfjord, in charge of the sledges 
and equipment. Great was the rejoicing in Godthaab when 
the explorers reached there and immediate preparations were 
made to succour the remainder of the party. These had 
slowly moved in the direction of Godthaab and gratefully 
welcomed the Eskimos who met them with supplies. 

Unfortunately the party missed the last European vessel 
that left port that season and were obliged to spend the winter 
in Greenland. Letters and despatches, however, had been 
carried by the Eskimos down the coast to the Fox, M'Clin- 
tock's old vessel, in his famous search for Sir John Franklin, 
and this veteran little craft carried the thrilling news of the 
"First crossing of Greenland " to Europe. The winter passed, 



CARRIES OUT HIS UNDERTAKINGS 409 

and on April 15 "the settlement rang with the single shriek 
— 'The ship, the ship.' — Joyfully the brave band of explorers 
received news from home, and almost sorrowfully prepared 
to leave their hospitable friends of Godthaab." 

On May 21, 1889, Nansen and his companions made their 
triumphant entry into Copenhagen — and, concludes Nansen, 
"May 30 we entered Christiania Fjord, and were received 
by hundreds of sailing boats and a whole fleet of steamers. 
. . . When we got near the harbour, and saw the ramparts 
of the old fortress and the quays on all sides black with people, 
Dietrichson said to Ravna : 'Are not all these people a 
fine sight, Ravna ? ' ' Yes, it is fine, very fine ; — but if they 
had only been reindeer !' was Ravna's answer." 

Previous to his famous journey across Greenland, in one 
of his many conferences with Dr. H. Rink, that veteran ex- 
plorer of Greenland, Nansen was addressed by Mrs. Rink, 
who said to him : "You must go to the North Pole, too, some 
day," and without hesitation he answered her emphatically, 
as though his mind had long ago been made up on that point, 
"I mean to." 

From his twenty-third year, Nansen had bent his mind and 
energies upon that great journey into the Polar regions, upon 
which he did not embark, however, until nine years later. 

In the meantime, he was appointed curator in the Museum 
of Comparative Anatomy at the Christiania University. 

In the Danish Geographical Journal for 1885, Mr. Lytzen, 
Colonial Manager at Julianshaab, gave an interesting account 
of certain relics of the ill-fated Jeannette expedition picked 
up by Eskimos on the west Greenland coast. Among these 
articles was a list of provisions, signed by Captain De Long, 
a manuscript list of the Jeannette's boats, a pair of oil-skin 
breeches marked "Louis Noros, " the name of a member of 
the Jeannette's crew, the peak of a cap with F. C. Lindemann, 
or Nindemann, written on it. 



410 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

It was plain to Dr. Nansen that these articles had drifted 
no less than twenty-nine hundred miles and in a period of 
eleven hundred days, nor could he escape the conviction that 
a current passes across or very near the Pole into the sea be- 
tween Greenland and Spitzbergen. Upon this hypothesis 
Dr. Nansen urged his plan to take a well-provisioned ship, 
"built on such principles as to enable it to withstand the 
pressure of ice — for on this same drift-ice, and by the 
same route, it must be no less possible to transport an expe- 
dition." 

In spite of the madness of his scheme, its condemnation by 
many of the most eminent Arctic authorities of Europe and 
America, the Norwegian government extended its patronage, 
and the ' ' Storthing ' ' granted eleven thousand two hundred and 
fifty pounds toward the expenses of the expedition, the re- 
mainder being collected by private subscription. 

The Fram, eight hundred tons displacement, was built 
with especial attention to the construction of the shape of 
the hull, so as to offer the greatest possible resistance to the 
attacks of the ice. She carried requisite provisions for dogs 
and men for five years, and coal for four months' steaming 
at full speed. 

The navigation of the Fram was given to Captain Otto 
Sverdrup ; Lieutenant Sigurd Scott-Hansen, of the Nor- 
wegian navy, was tendered the management of the mete- 
orological, astronomical, and magnetic observations. Dr. 
Henrik Blessing, physician and botanist, Chief Engineer Anton 
Amundsen, Lieutenant in the Reserve, Frederick Johannesen, 
whose eagerness to accompany the expedition led him to 
accept the position of stoker, and seven others, made up the 
personnel of the expedition. 

The Fram left Norway in June, 1893, skirted the north 
coasts of Europe and Asia, and put into the Polar pack ice near 
the New Siberia Island, September 22, 1893. 



VOYAGE ON THE "FRAM" 41.1 

Frozen fast in the ice three days later, the Fram stood off 
northwest of Saunikof Land in 78° 50' N., 134° E. It now 
behooved the company to ship rudder, clean the boilers, and 
prepare for winter. No idle moments could be spared, rigging 
must be cared for, sails inspected, provisions of all kinds got 
out from the cases down in the hold, and handed over to the 
cook, and the smithy called upon for his offices in repairing 
bear traps, hooks, knives, etc. 

A busy life is a happy one, and the Fram's company lived in 
harmonious good-fellowship and drifted leisurely with the 
great ice-pack, just as Nansen had predicted they would, with 
only occasional visits from bears to break the monotony of 
complete isolation. 

In December, Nansen, who had read Dr. Kane's fearful 
experiences in the Arctic night, with insufficient food for dogs 
and men, suffering from the ravages of scurvy, compares his 
own condition in the comfortable warm quarters on board the 
Fram. No ageing or depressing effects had been felt by any 
member of his party. The quiet, regular life seemed to agree 
with them, and with good food, in profusion and variety, a 
warm shelter, plenty of exercise in the open air, and cheerful 
diversions in the shape of instructive books and amusing 
games, the men kept up a cheerful balance of good health 
and spirits. Nevertheless, the patience of all on board was 
sorely tried before the cruise was over. 

The drift of the ship during the thirty-five months of her 
besetment, was uneven and irregular ; her zigzag course as 
she receded or approached her goal, encouraged or dis- 
heartened her enthusiastic crew. She met bravely and with- 
stood in a remarkable manner threatened disaster from the 
ice pressures. Wild enthusiasm greeted the slightest advance, 
such as was found February 16, 1894, when the observations 
showed 80° V north latitude, a few minutes north of the 
observations taken the week before. And a corresponding 



412 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

depression is noticed when contrary winds retard or actually 
force the Fram to retrace her hard-earned progress. 

It is not surprising that Nansen's adventurous spirit grew 
restive under the enforced inactivity of the Fram's uncertain 
drift. Early in the year 1894 one finds his mind working 
upon deep-laid plans to force the issue with the enemy, and 
eventually he announced his intentions of attempting one 
of the most daring and hazardous sledge journeys in the annals 
of Arctic adventure. His plan was to leave the ship with one 
companion, advance over the frozen polar ocean, as far as 
possible, and without making an effort to rejoin the ship, 
retreat by way of Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen, back to 
Norway. February 26, 1895, he officially informed the crew 
that after his departure, Captain Sverdrup was to be chief 
officer of the expedition, with Lieutenant Scott-Hansen sec- 
ond in command. 

On the 14th of March, 1895, the Fram stood in 84° 04' N.*, 
102° E., and amid a parting salute with flag, pennant, and guns, 
Nansen's third and final sledge dash to the north was taken. 
Johannesen, who had been chosen as his companion for this 
arduous undertaking, was in all respects qualified for the 
work — an accomplished snow-shoer equalled by few "in 
his powers of endurance, — a fine fellow physically and 
mentally." 

Off they went, accompanied for a short distance by several 
of the crew. Three sledges drawn by twenty-eight dogs were 
loaded with two kayaks, and provisions for one hundred days 
for the men and fifty days' dog-food. Nansen and Johannesen, 
fully confident that fifty days would see them at the Pole, 
plunged into the unknown and met bravely the pitiless foe. 
Hummocks and ridges, lanes and slush, cold and exhaustion, 
these were the impediments to progress. 

It was Nansen's rule to march nine or ten hours, broken 
by a midday halt for a little rest and a bit to eat. These stops 



NANSEN AND JOHANNESEN START FOR POLE 413 

were a bitter trial to the men exposed to the merciless winds 
without fire or shelter, to be followed by the uncomfortable 
task of disentangling the clogs' traces, before they were able 
to take up the march again. On March 29, they were "grind- 
ing on, but very slowly "; the dogs were showing signs of weak- 
ening — there was endless disentangling of the hauling ropes. 

On April 3 they were making their desperate way over 
ridges and lanes which had frozen together with rubble on 
either side. It was impossible to use snow-shoes, there being 
too little snow between the hummocks. Thick weather, with 
deceptive mists making all things white, added to their mis- 
eries ; irregularities and holes and the spaces between, so that 
the men and dogs stumbled blindly on, crashing into pitfalls 
and cracks and running the grave risk of broken bones. 

On April 6 the ice grew worse and worse ; after an advance 
of only four miles Nansen and Johannesen were in despair. 

The following day, the limit of patience was reached — 
a world's record made — Nansen found himself in 86° 13.6' N., 
about 95° east longitude ; a distance of one hundred and 
twenty-one geographical miles from the From, with two 
hundred and thirty-five miles between himself and the Pole. 
Twenty-three days had passed; Nansen and Johannesen turned 
their backs upon a veritable chaos of ice-blocks, stretching 
as far as the horizon, and prepared for their retreat to Cape 
Fligely. 

On this remarkable journey southward, confidently expected 
by Nansen to extend over not more than three months, but 
which in reality lengthened to one hundred and fifty-three 
days, the courage and ability of these men was tested to the 
utmost. Frightful gales, which disrupted the pack, and thick 
fogs, which made advance almost impossible, added to their 
discomforts and privations. The dogs reduced in strength 
from exhaustion and lack of food, died one by one or were 
killed and fed to the survivors. The work of hauling became 



414 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

heavier and heavier, as their numbers diminished. The 
men had the misfortune to allow their watches to run down, 
thereby making their longitude observations uncertain, the 
result of which was that they travelled far out of their course 
in search of the land, which persistently remained hidden. 

Early in June it became necessary to curtail the rations, 
and although they steadfastly kept to weights, in order that 
their remaining provisions would last, they were reduced, 
June 18, to a frugal supper of two ounces aleuronic bread and 
one ounce butter per man — and crept into their sleeping- 
bags hungry and exhausted. 

The capture of a seal relieved a situation that threatened 
to become very serious. At last, on July 24, the tired eyes of 
the travellers rested upon something rising above the never- 
ending white line of the horizon, and the joyful cry was raised 
of "Land ! Land !" Progress to the happy hunting-ground 
was exasperatingly slow and not without its startling ad- 
ventures. Johannesen was attacked by a bear, and without 
the prompt action on the part of Nansen would doubtless 
have proved its victim. 

Open water was reached August 6, 1895, and, by dint of 
paddling and hauling up on the floes to advance by sledge, 
on August 16 they stood on the dry land of Houen Island. 
Continuing on their journey they soon realized that the 
rapid approach of winter would make the effort to reach 
Spitzbergen impossible, so they encamped on one of the out- 
lying islands off Franz Josef Land and, building themselves 
a stone hut covered with walrus hides, prepared to spend the 
winter. Bears and walrus were plentiful and supplied them 
with abundant food ; other game was occasionally shot. 
The cold Arctic night found them, on the whole, quite com- 
fortable in their hut. The train-oil lamps kept the tempera- 
ture in the middle of the room about freezing. For nine 
months Nansen and Johannesen hibernated thus, with no 



DIFFICULTIES OF TRAVEL 415 

variation to their existence but the taking of the most neces- 
sary meteorological observations. 

With the return of spring the two "wild men" made every 
preparation for their journey to Spitzbergen. This was no 
easy matter, considering they lacked everything, and the few 
reserve stores of flour and chocolate had mildewed and 
spoiled during the winter. On May 19, 1896, the sledges 
stood loaded and lashed and after leaving inside the hut a 
short report of their journey and adventures, Nansen and 
Johannesen started for Spitzbergen. Though the winter had 
been long and monotonous, adventure greeted them fre- 
quently in their advance. Nansen nearly lost his life by 
falling into a water-hole. They were delayed by a gale, during 
which they nearly lost their kayaks. Seeing these frail crafts, 
with all they possessed on board, drifting rapidly away from 
their moorings, Nansen sprang into the icy water and made a 
desperate attempt at rescue. Meanwhile, Johannesen paced 
restlessly up and down the ice in an agony of suspense. With 
strokes growing more and more feeble, the swimmer realized 
the desperate situation and, putting forth his last benumbed 
energies in a final stroke, grasped a snow-shoe which lay across 
the end. All but frozen, Nansen had great difficulty in get- 
ting into the kayak and still more trouble in paddling to land. 
Numb and shivering, the wind biting his very marrow, he 
yet had courage to fire at two auks which he secured for a 
warm and welcome supper. 

In the meantime, their meat was nearly gone. The outlook 
was anything but promising. In these frail, weather-worn, 
canvas-covered kayaks, twelve feet long, about two and one 
half feet wide and hardly more than one and one fourth feet 
deep, there was yet a journey of two hundred miles of ocean, 
more or less encumbered by ice, which intervened between 
them and Spitzbergen, where their only hope lay in being 
taken aboard one of the small vessels, which visit these shores 



416 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

every summer. The future for Nansen and Johannesen was in- 
deed desperate, but a happy chance brought them timely de- 
liverance, and the dramatic meeting with Frederick G. Jackson, 
June 17, 1896, in the isolated regions of Franz Josef Land 
terminated one of the most brilliant retreats in Arctic history. 

Mr. Jackson and his companions, who for two years had 
been making most valuable scientific observations and 
collecting specimens in all departments of natural science 
which the islands and surroundings seas afforded, welcomed 
the wanderers with open arms, brought them to the house, 
fed, and warmed them, and, best of all, gave them news from 
home and letters. It was not surprising that the first night 
was spent in reading home letters, which Jackson had faith- 
fully carried for them into these desolate regions, and in talk- 
ing over the strange adventures now so happily ended. For 
at last their work was done, and, as Nansen said, "he didn't 
want to sleep, he felt so happy." 

So the days passed rapidly until the Windward came^ 
which brought yearly supplies to Jackson and carried home 
the adventurous explorers. They reached Vardo Haven, 
August 13. All that was needed to complete the happiness 
of the home-coming was news of the Fram, and this was not 
long withheld. On August 20, 1896, the joyful tidings of the 
arrival of the Fram reached Nansen in a brief telegram sent 
from Skyaervo, Kraenangem Fiord. 

She had pursued her monotonous drift to her highest point 
to the west-northwest, 85° 57' N., 60° E., changing to a south- 
southeast direction, to 84° 09' N., 15° E., where she remained 
nearly stationary from February until June, 1896. The 
open summer permitted Captain Sverdrup to push through 
her ice barrier, and, by the judicious use of explosives, blast 
her way to the open water, August 13, 1896, north of Spitz- 
bergen. . 



CHAPTER XXI 

Journeys of Dr. A. Bunge and Baron E. von Toll. — Exploration in 
Spitzbergen. — Sir Martin Conway. — Dr. A. G. Nathorst. — 
Professor J. H. Gore. — Andree's balloon expedition to the North 
Pole. — Search for Andree by Theodor Lerner. — J. Stadling, 
Dr. A. G. Nathorst. — Captain Bade. — Walter Wellman's plan 
to reach the Pole from Spitzbergen. — Italian expedition under 
Duke of Abruzzi. — Loss of the Stella Polare. — Captain Umberto 
Cagni's journey. — Breaks the record. — Retreat. — Home. — 

• Baldwin-Ziegler expedition of 1900. — Complete equipment. — 
Return of expedition in autumn. — Ziegler expedition under 
Anthony Fiala. — The America reaches high northing. — Winters 
in Triplitz Bay. — Is destroyed. — Failure of sledge journeys. — 
Relief ship does not come. — Second winter. — Return of party 
by Terra Nova in 1903. 

The voyage of the Jeannette, among other valuable scien- 
tific results, had proved Wrangell Land to be an island of 
moderate size. The drift of the From had demonstrated 
the theory of a polar ocean of vast dimensions and great depth. 
The interest, therefore, in Arctic exploration for the next few 
years was centred in numerous scientific parties which thor- 
oughly examined, surveyed, and explored the unknown sec- 
tions of lands bordering on the Polar Basin. 

As early as 1885, an expedition was fitted out under the 
auspices of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, and 
placed in charge of Dr. A. Bunge and Baron E. von Toll for 
scientific and geographical work in the Siberian Island. Toll 
visited Nova Sibir and traversed the entire coast of Kotelnoi ; 
in the meantime, Dr. Bunge explored Great Liachof, where 
he secured a valuable collection of fossils. 
2e 417 



418 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

Toll returned again to the Arctic in 1893, visiting the north- 
east of Jana, for the purpose of securing a well-preserved 
mammoth. Afterward, in company with Lieutenant Schil- 
eiko, he again visited the New Siberian Island, and with dog- 
sledges travelled on the west coast of Kotelnoi, as far as 75° 37' 
north latitude, establishing two depots of provisions for 
Nansen's possible use. Among other important results of 
this expedition was the discovery of evidence that in the 
mammoth periods trees grew no less than 3° north of their 
present limit. Toll returned to the mainland and followed 
the Lena, reporting impassable tundras from Sviatoi Nos to 
Dudinka, — and reached Yeniseisk the 4th of December. 
Later geological researches were made on Great Liachof Island. 

Baron Toll determined upon another voyage to the Arctie 
for the purpose of supplementing the geological knowledge of 
Bennett and other islands and to complete a journey of explor- 
ation to Sannikof Land, first seen by him in 1886. 

The Sarya was fitted out for this expedition, and the winter 
of 1900-1901 was passed in 76° 08' north latitude, 95° east 
longitude. 

"On April 18, 1901," writes Baron Toll, "immediately after 
the Feast of Easter, Lieutenant Kolomiezoff and the zoolo- 
gist, A. Birulja, set out with two sleighs each with a team of 
eight dogs, the object of the first being to reach the Yenisei 
and establish coaling stations, while the second was directed 
to accompany it as far as Cape Sterlegof, some 200 wersts dis- 
tant. Two days later began my excursion with Lieutenant 
Koltschak to the Chelyuskin Peninsula, accompanied by a 
sleigh with a team of twelve dogs and laden as lightly as 
possible. 

" On May 1, we reached that point on the bay where we had 
established a depot the previous year (1900). The provi- 
sions and fish here buried were to complete our supplies, 
which barely sufficed for just one month. But we were unable 



DR. BUNGE AND BARON VON TOLL JOURNEYS 419 

to dig out the deposit from the deep snow. On May 7, we 
started from this place in an east-northeasterly direction,with 
the intention of pushing on to St. Thaddeus Bay on the east 
coast of the Chelyuskin Peninsula, and returning thence along 
the coast. After traversing the tundra for forty wersts in 
this direction, we again came unexpectedly on an inlet, which 
grew narrower towards the west-southwest, where it assumed 
the form of a narrow sound or river mouth. 

"The position as determined by Lieutenant Koltschak on the 
off side of the bay was 76° 17' N. and 99° 29' E." 

On May 12, the tired dogs were given a day's rest; then 
Toll made a day's march, half a degree eastward, on Canadian 
snow-shoes. There were no prospects for adding to their 
limited food supply by hunting, so it became necessary to 
retrace their steps. 

"Hitherto," writes Toll, "we had to contend with almost 
constant difficulties caused by fog, and deep snow already 
softened by the sun. But henceforth we had to struggle with 
contrary snow-storms, which lasted almost without a break 
for fourteen days. The consequence was the loss of five dogs, 
which broke down one after another through exhaustion. 
On May 30, we reached the Sarya, the excursion having lasted 
forty-one days. Of these we had to pass nine in the sleeping- 
sack during the fiercest snow-storms ; four were uselessly 
wasted at the depot ; and during the remaining twenty-eight 
days we covered 500 wersts." 

Other excursions were made by members of the party, 
with most gratifying results. 

The release of the Sarya was confidently hoped for early in 
August. "But in the interim," writes Baron Toll, "there 
was still to be solved a geographical question, namely, to dis- 
cover the mouth of the Taimyr River. According to the maps 
hitherto published, the Taimyr was supposed to discharge in 
the first or second of the larger bights lying to the east of the 



420 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Taimyr Sound. Both of these were twice explored by Lieu- 
tenant Kolomeizoff , and in the first was, in fact, found the mouth 
of a considerable stream ; but its configuration was not at all in 
accordance with the contour lines given by the topographer 
Wagenoff on MiddendorfFs chart. In the second no indica- 
tion could be detected of any river mouth. As these re- 
searches had been undertaken in winter amid fogs and snow- 
drifts, there still remained a doubt, which could only be 
removed by fresh investigations carried out in clear summer 
weather. Should these also lead to negative results, the only 
remaining assumption would be that the Taimyr discharged 
into that bight which during our journey to the interior of 
the Chelyuskin Peninsula, Lieutenant Koltschak and I had 
crossed, since no considerable stream assuredly entered that 
other inlet where the depot lay." 

The survey of the first two bays was undertaken by Birulja 
and Dr. Walter, their excursion lasting from July 20 to August 
15, 1901. " Respecting the question of the Taimyr, the two 
savants came to negative results. Still they confirmed 
Kolomeizoff's discovery of a large estuary in the first of the 
two bays." 

On the 25th of August, the fissures in the ice had expanded ; 
the whole of the ice-pack round the Sarya was set in motion, 
and she drifted in the direction of the cliffs of Station Island. 
Slowly she was carried through the Fram Strait to the open sea. 
Withdrawing behind a cape at Nansen Island, the Sarya 
awaited the drifting away of the ice-pack. On August 30, 
the water-way was free, and she began her voyage to Koletnoi 
Island ; doubling Cape Chelyuskin on September 1, she 
sighted, three days later, the east coast of the Taimyr Penin- 
sula, without meeting any ice. 

"As we drew near," writes Toll, "to the New Siberian 
archipelago in favorable weather till September 7th, a strong 
southeaster began to blow in our teeth, and against this we 



SIR MARTIN CONWAY 421 

made very slow headway. I, therefore, changed the course 
to the northeast. On September 9th we reached the edge of 
the pack-ice in 77° 9' N., and 14° E. Here we encountered 
a southern gale, which, acting in concert with the marine 
current, drove the Sarya 30 miles to the northwest. The 
storm veered round to the west-southwest, and I thought 
it better again to make the most of the wind and 'now direct our 
course southeastwards for Bennett Island, instead of trying 
under these circumstances to penetrate into the ice in search 
of land. On September 11th the imposing headland of Cape 
Emma at Bennett Island suddenly loomed up before us out 
of the fog, and presently became again wrapped in fog. 

"We had approached to within 12 knots of the island, 
when our further advance towards it was barred by a belt 
fourteen feet thick of impenetrable ice. Here we remained 
two days in the hope that the ice might shift, but in vain !" 

Disappointed in his hopes of reaching Sannikof Land in 
1902, Baron Toll succeeded in sheltering the Sarya for a 
second winter at Nerpichi Bay, Kotelnoi Island, 75° 22' N., 
137° 16' E. The sad disaster which overtook the brave 
scientists ends a chapter valuable to Arctic achievement. 

On June 7, 1902, Baron Toll, accompanied by Seeberg, 
the astronomer, and two hunters, left for a geological excursion, 
and after arduous efforts landed on Bennett Island, August 3, 
which was found to be a plateau some fifteen hundred feet in 
height. Their researches disclosed Cambrian deposits. — 
They left the island to return to the ship on November 8, 1902, 
and were never seen again. Brunsneff and Koltshak, in a relief 
expedition in 1904, discovered a record containing the informa- 
tion just stated, but no other traces were found of these coura- 
geous men who sacrificed their lives in the cause of science. 

Another scene of activity was centred in Spitzbergen, 
for crossing which in 1896 Sir Martin Conway and party re- 
ceived the applause of the world. The following year he 



422 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

again returned to continue his explorations. Dr. A. G. 
Nahorst circumnavigated Spitzbergen in 1898, surveying and 
mapping the irregular coast-line with admirable precision. 
The same year, Professor J. H. Gore of the United States 
Coast and Geodetic Survey made pendulum observations in 
Spitzbergen for the determination of the force of gravity in 
that latitude. Prince Albert of Monaco and party cruised 
along the coast for the purpose of making scientific observa- 
tions. So active had been the interest in this hitherto un- 
claimed archipelago that Russia began to assert her rights to 
ownership. 

The most unique venture for polar honours was undertaken 
in 1897 by Salamon August Andree, a Swede, and two com- 
panions, Mr. Strindberg and Mr. Traenkel, from Dane 
Island north of Spitzbergen. Andree was an ardent apostle 
of aerial conquest of the North Pole. His balloon, the 
Omen, had a cubical contents of forty-five hundred metres, 
and the shape of a sphere terminating in a slightly conical 
appendage. The envelope was made of six hundred pieces of 
pongee silk, each being from seventeen to eighteen metres 
long by about forty-eight centimetres wide ; these were 
sewn together by machine, then subjected to a process of 
"cementing" with a special varnish. A carefully made net 
composed of hemp cords encompassed the envelope. Special 
valves were devised by Andree. The car was of cane basket- 
work, mounted on a frame of chestnut wood, the bottom being 
strengthened by wooden cross-beams, the whole covered with 
tarpaulin, with necessary openings. 

Provisioned with tins of preserved food, — chocolate, com- 
pressed bread, condensed milk, champagne, claret, butter, 
fresh water, and alcohol, besides a cooking apparatus, and 
other necessary equipment, — this frail craft made its ascen- 
sion with its human freight, July 11, 1897. 

"The last farewells are brief and touching," writes Alexis 



andree's balloon expedition to the pole 423 

Machuron. "Few words are exchanged, but hearty hand- 
clasps between those whose hearts are in sympathy say more 
than words. Suddenly Andree snatches himself away from 
the embraces of his friends and takes his place on the wicker 
bridge of the car, from whence he calls in a firm voice : — 

"'Strindberg . . . Franaenkel . . . Let us go!' 

"His two companions at once take their places beside him. 
Each is armed with a knife for cutting the ropes supporting the 
groups of ballast bags. . . . Andree is always calm, cold, 
and impassable ; not a trace of emotion is visible, noth- 
ing but an expression of firm resolution and an indomitable 
will. He is just the man for such an enterprise, and he is 
well seconded by his two companions. At length the decisive 
moment arrives : 'One! Two! Cut!' cries Andree in Swedish. 
The three sailors obey the order simultaneously, and in one 
second the aerial ship, free and unfettered, rises majestically 
into space, saluted by our heartiest cheers. . . . Scattered 
along the shore, we stand motionless, with full hearts and anx- 
ious eyes, gazing at the silent horizon. For some moments, 
then, between two hills we perceive a gray speck over the sea, 
very, very, far away, and then it finally disappears. 

"The way to the Pole is clear, no more obstacles to en- 
counter — the sea, the ice-fields, and the Unknown !" 

Out of the Great White North came a lone survivor, a carrier- 
pigeon, bringing the tidings written "July 13th, 12 : 30 p.m., 
82° 2' north latitude, 15° 5' east longitude. Good journey 
eastward, 10° south. All goes well on board. This is the 
fourth message sent by pigeon. 

"Andree." 

Ah ! but all did not go well. In June, 1899, a buoy contain- 
ing a note from Andree was found in Norway ; it had been 
thrown out eight hours after departure. 

The "North Pole buoy" to be dropped when the Pole was 



424 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

passed, was found empty in September, 1899, on the north side 
of King Charles Island. A third buoy, also empty, was picked 
up on the west coast of Iceland, July 17, 1900, and another 
reported from Norway, August 31, 1900, contained a note 
stating that the buoy was thrown out at 10 p.m., July 11, 1897, 
at an altitude of eight hundred and twenty feet, moving north 
45 E. Thus the carrier-pigeon was the last messenger — the 
harbinger of Andree's last word to friends on earth ; the fate 
of the three brave spirits lies buried in the Arctic silence. 

Theodor Lerner was one of the first to hurry to Spitzbergen 
in 1898 leading the German scientific expedition, to obtain 
news from Andree, if possible, and the same year the Swedish 
Anthropological and Geographical Society sent J. Stadling, 
with companions, to the Lena delta, the mouth of the Yenisei 
and the islands of New Siberia, where they searched in vain 
for traces of their missing compatriots. Again, in 1899, 
Dr. A. G. Nathorst turned his attention to eastern Greenland 
in an unsuccessful search for tidings of Andree, making valu- 
able maps and observations of the fiord system of King 
Oscar Fiord. Nor did Captain Bade in his explorations in 
East Spitzbergen, King Charles Land, and Franz Josef Land 
in 1900 find any traces of the missing aeronaut. 

In the year 1894 Walter Wellman, an American, made 
Spitzbergen the base of his activities in an attempt to pene- 
trate the Polar pack and reach the North Pole. Sailing in 
the Ragnvald Jarl x he had the misfortune to lose his ship 
off Walden Island; undaunted by this grave disaster, he 
pushed north with sledges as far as 81°, but had to retrace his 
steps, owing to the impenetrable condition of the ice. He had, 
however, reached a point east of Platen Island. Wellman 
again endeavoured to conquer the ice in 1898, this time choos- 
ing for his base Franz Josef Land. He was liberally fitted out, 
and accompanied, among others, by Evelyn B. Baldwin of the 
United States Weather Bureau. Mr. Wellman made his 



wellman' s plan to beach north pole 425 

headquarters at "Harms worth House," at Cape Tegetthoff, for 
three years the Arctic home of Frederick A. Jackson and 
his companions. 

In February, 1899, Mr. Wellman, with three companions, 
started for the Pole with every promise of success. An 
unforeseen accident to Mr. Wellman, and an upheaval in the 
ice, which destroyed many dogs and much of their equip- 
ment, necessitated a hurried return to headquarters. Disap- 
pointed, but not discouraged, Wellman organized a series of 
important scientific observations and explorations, during 
which Evelyn Baldwin, in a long sledge journey to Wilczek 
Land, determined its eastern boundary, and discovered, among 
other islands to the northeast, Graham Bell Land. 

To that daring and adventurous prince, H. R. H. Luigi 
Amedeo of Savoy, the duke of the Abruzzi, is due one of the 
most interesting chapters in Arctic history. There is charm 
in the graceful dedication of his book, "To Her Majesty the 
Queen-Mother," as well as in his gallant tribute to his brave 
companions who won laurels under his direction and fought 
gallantly the dangers of the Arctic under his banner. "Ital- 
ians and Norwegians behaved throughout this voyage as 
though the crew were composed of one nationality," he 
says. "I had comrades with me, rather than subordinates. 
I express, therefore, my gratitude towards all, since to their 
harmonious cooperation is due the success of my expedition, 
and I express the same gratitude to the memory of the three 
brave men who perished whilst on the sledge expedition." 

The Jason, having a carrying capacity of five hundred and 
seventy tons cargo, was purchased by the Duke, renamed 
the Stella Polare; refitted, equipped, provisioned, and manned 
for four years, at a total cost of thirty-eight thousand four 
hundred and thirteen pounds sterling. 

Second in command to the Duke of Abruzzi, who, by the 
way, was but twenty-six years old at the time of his adventure 



426 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

was Captain Umberto Cagni of the Italian Navy, in charge 
of the scientific observations. Other officers of the Navy were 
Lieutenant Francesco Querini, in charge of the mineralogical 
collections, and Dr. Achille C. Molinelli, medical officer, also 
in charge of the zoological and botanical collections. Four 
other officers, a crew of twelve, and four especially experienced 
guides completed the personnel of the expedition. 

Under the personal advice and superintendence of Dr. 
Nansen, who aided in every possible way the success of the 
expedition, a carefully thought out plan was made, by which 
the Stella Polare was to leave Archangel, early in July, make 
for Cape Flora and Northbook Island, establish a depot 
provisioned for eight months, then proceed, take up winter 
quarters as far north as possible, close to the lands lying west 
of Franz Josef Land. Sledge journeys in the autumn would 
establish a chain of provision caches on the lands to the north, 
and in the spring a sledge journey to the north for a world 
record would be undertaken. A retreat to the depot at Cape 
Flora with or without the ship would insure subsistence until 
the arrival of a relief ship to be sent in two years, or, if the 
relief ship failed, a retreat to Nova Zembla or Spitzbergen 
would be undertaken by boats. 

On June 30, 1899, the Stella Polare reached Archangel, 
where one hundred and twenty-one dogs were taken aboard 
to be used in the sledge journeys. On the 12th of July, she 
weighed anchor and proceeded on her voyage. Ice was en- 
countered, July 17, and three days later Northbrook Island 
was sighted, and a visit made to Jackson's huts and Leigh 
Smith's winter quarters. 

The Stella Polare bravely fought her way through unfavour- 
able ice conditions and succeeded in reaching 82° 04' N., 
59° E. by the British Channel. Securing an anchorage in 
Teplitz Bay, Prince Rudolf Land, she received a disastrous 
nip, September 7, when she sprang a leak, and it became 



ITALIAN EXPEDITION UNDER DUKE OF ABRUZZI 427 

necessary to disembark her provisions and establish winter 
quarters on Rudolf Island. 

"As our ship, which we had abandoned after it had been 
seized by the ice," writes the Duke of Abruzzi, "was the only 
means of our returning home in the following year, we had to 
consider how to save her. Part of the engines, the condenser, 
and the furnaces were under water, which had frozen to a 
thickness of about nineteen inches. The ship had not 
changed her position, but had heeled over still more as the 
ice which had supported her had given way. 

"The water had first to be pumped out of the ship to enable 
us to find the leak on the left side, and this had to be mended 
as well as that which was visible on the right side ; we had 
then to see if it would be possible to keep the ship dry, and 
if not, to protect the engines so that they might remain under 
water during the winter without being injured. Such was the 
work before us. At that time I did not believe it possible, 
but Captain Cagni never despaired for a moment of being 
able to carry it out, and if it was accomplished, it was owing 
to his strong will and to his perseverance, which was never 
discouraged by any difficulties." 

Early in the winter, the Duke of Abruzzi, in one of his 
sledge excursions, had the misfortune to freeze a part of his 
left hand, which resulted in the loss of the joints of two of his 
fingers. This unfortunate accident prevented his accompany- 
ing the spring sledge journey to the north, for which active 
preparations were already in progress. The sledges and kay- 
aks were patterned after those used by Dr. Nansen ; the for- 
mer eleven feet five inches long, six inches wide, and six and 
one-half inches high, with convex runners shod with plates of 
white metal, and were saturated with a mixture of pitch, 
stearine, and tallow to render them more slippery and durable. 

After careful calculations by Dr. Molinelli, the rations to 
be carried were estimated at two pounds twelve ounces 



428 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

nine drams per day for each man, consisting of biscuit, 
tinned meat, pemmican, butter, milk, Liebig's Extract, 
desiccated vegetables, Italian paste, sugar, coffee, tea, choco- 
late, etc. 

The first start was made in February, but after travelling 
in the extreme cold for several days, the party returned and 
made a fresh start, March 11. The expedition was composed 
of ten men and thirteen sledges, which, with their loads, 
weighed five hundred and fifty-one pounds each, and was 
drawn by one hundred and two dogs. 

It had been previously settled to send back detachments, 
after twelve, twenty-four, and thirty-six days ; the last de- 
tachment to remain in the field seventy-two days. Cagni, 
however, modified these plans, and in the meantime the Duke 
of Abruzzi anxiously waited the return of the first detachment. 
On April 18, the second detachment returned to camp; they 
had left Commander Cagni, March 31. The first detachment, 
consisting of Lieutenant Querini, Stokken, and Oilier, had 
started to return March 23. An immediate search was in- 
stituted for the missing men, but without results. After 
every effort had been expended, the three men were given up 
for lost. Meantime, the other supporting parties having 
returned, anxiety was beginning to manifest itself for Cagni. 
The day set for his return had come and gone. On May 19, 
Dr. Molinelli and two companions had set out for Cape 
Fligely, with provisions for ten days, to look for him. The 
Duke of Abruzzi anxiously scanned the horizon with his tele- 
scope for signs of his missing companions. After an absence 
of one hundred and four days, Captain Cagni, with three com- 
panions, having made a world record and reached 86° 34', 
was sighted in the distance and welcomed home by his im- 
patient and enthusiastic companions. 

"Although their strength had been much reduced," writes 
Abruzzi, "by want of sufficient food, they were not exhausted. 



LOSS OF THE " STELLA POLARE " 429 

The seven dogs which survived seemed much worse ; some of 
them were merely skin and bone. The only part of their out- 
fit they had brought back that was still capable of being of 
any use, was their tent, and this had been mended. The frame- 
work of the kayaks had been broken and their canvas torn, so 
that they could not be used unless a week was spent in mend- 
ing them. The sledges which remained had been mended 
with pieces of other sledges. All that was left of their cooking 
utensils was the outer covering of the stove, a saucepan which 
had been mended, and the plates. The Primus lamp had been 
replaced by a pot, in which dog's grease had been burned for 
the last few weeks. The sleeping-bag had been thrown away, 
and only the thick canvas lining kept. Their clothes were in 
rags." 

Cagni had advanced under the same trying conditions of 
hummocky ice, slush, and deep snow that had been encountered 
by Nansen ; he had had the misfortune to freeze one of his 
fingers, and suffered excruciating pain, necessitating his 
operating with his own hand and removing the dead mass with 
a pair of scissors. He had steadily advanced until April 25, 
1900. 

His return journey covered sixty days under the most 
alarming conditions ; for on May 18, he writes: "I feel more 
and more every day a terrible anxiety with regard to our fate. 
After marching nine days toward the southeast, we are nearly 
on the same meridian," owing to the southwest drift of the 
ice-pack. Four weeks more of almost superhuman effort 
brought them to Harly Island, from which point they made 
their way to Rudolf Island. 

With the achievement of this brilliant record it now re- 
mained but to free the Stella Polare by blasting and cutting 
channels about her snug quarters. The brief Arctic summer 
having set in, her deliverance at last was secured, and "At 
half-past one in the morning of August 16, everything was 



430 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

ready, and we steamed slowly away from the shore, giving 
three cheers as we turned round the ice of the bay which had 
held us so long imprisoned." 

In contrast to the Italian expedition, the Baldwin-Ziegler 
Polar expedition, which sailed from Tromsoe, Norway, July 
17, 1900, stands out conspicuously. Mr. Baldwin was born 
in Springfield, Missouri, in 1862. He had seen Arctic service 
with the Peary expedition of 1893-1894, and had come near 
being one of the ill-fated Andree balloon party. He had done 
good service with Wellman in Franz Josef Land, and now 
with the unlimited means put at his disposal by the munifi- 
cence of Mr. William Ziegler of New York, he proposed to 
conquer the Pole. 

"Our fleet," wrote Mr. Baldwin in McClure's Magazine, 
September, 1901, "comprises three vessels. The America, our 
flagship, as some one has expressed it, is a three-masted ship- 
rigged steamer of 466 tons net burden, driving a single screw. 
Her length over all is 157 feet ; beam, 27 feet ; depth, 19 
feet. . . . The Frithiof is a Norwegian sailing-vessel, . . . 
the third vessel is the Belgia, which carried the Belgian Antarc- 
tic expedition of 1897-1899, under Captain Gerlache." 

Never before in the history of Polar expeditions was food 
and equipment carried in such luxurious profusion. The 
three vessels were as many floating hotels with larders lacking 
"nothing that foresight, experience, and the generosity of 
Mr. Ziegler could suggest or procure." 

The scientific equipment was also complete, including 
small balloons with releasing devices for depositing records 
when the ground was reached, buoys with records to be sent 
floating back to civilization by the currents, search-lights and 
wireless telegraph, besides the standard scientific instruments 
for meteorological, astronomical, and geodetic work. There 
were three hundred and twenty dogs, and fifteen ponies in 
charge of six expert Russian drivers. 



BALBW1N-ZIEGLER EXPEDITION OF 1900 431 

"The present expedition," wrote Mr. Baldwin, "typifies 
the spirit of the twentieth century;" and he adds, "No 
previous expedition to the north has ever made such complete 
arrangements for the transmission of news back to civilization 
as that which I have the honor to command." 

"The America and the Frithiof left Tromsoe, Norway, in 
July, 1901, for Franz Josef Land, which Baldwin regarded as 
the best starting-point for a polar venture," writes Mr. P. F. 
M'Grath in the Review of Reviews, July, 1905, "proceeding to 
Alger Island, in latitude 80° 24' north, longitude 55° 52' east, 
where he established his winter quarters. The Frithiof 
unloaded her stores and proceeded south, leaving the America 
harbored, with the dogs and equipment ashore, portable 
houses erected, and detail of duties being carried out. The 
personnel comprised 42 souls, — 17 Americans, 6 Russians, 
and 19 shipmen, mostly Norwegians. Game was plentiful, 
and several tons of bear and walrus meat were accumulated, 
the former for the men and the latter for the dogs. With this 
base beyond the eightieth parallel, Baldwin intended to push 
forward with his ship, or over the ice, exploring the adjacent 
region for uncharted land masses which would supply station- 
ary points, insuring him against the disadvantages of an ad- 
vance across the shifting ice, and from the farthest north of 
these he would, the next spring, make his dash across the 
crystal fields for the Pole. In this he would employ about 
twenty-five men as a vanguard and reserve, the flying column 
pushing rapidly ahead, and the transport train following with 
the heavier supplies. Numerically, the party would be strong 
enough to overcome otherwise serious obstacles, while the 
quantity of supplies to be carried by 320 dogs and 15 ponies 
would put the possibility of disaster almost out of the question. 
. . . With this elaborate programme, and the knowledge that 
the Duke of Abruzzi, with a much smaller party, attained a 
northing of 86° 33', Baldwin confidently anticipated making the 



432 THE GREAT WRITE NORTH 

Pole. And, as in that segment of the Arctic Circle he might 
find himself, in returning, obliged by ice and currents to head 
for the Greenland coast, which reaches to 83° 27', or 180 
miles nearer the Pole than his base, he planned that if he 
should be swerved westward by the tides, it would be easier 
to reach that shore. There he would find musk-oxen to eke 
out his supplies, and journey down the east coast to where 
the depot was made by the Belgica for him. But, as often 
happens in Polar work, Baldwin's hopes were blasted, dissen- 
sions rent his party asunder, his dogs perished by the score, 
and after a futile attempt to get north, he and his whole 
party returned to Tromsoe in August, 1902, while the Frithiof, 
which had sailed for Alger Island a month previous with addi- 
tional outfits and for news of him, had to retreat, owing to the 
unbroken ice-pack." 

The return of the Baldwin-Ziegler expedition in the autumn 
of 1902 was followed by that reorganized by Mr. Ziegler and 
given to the leadership of Mr. Anthony Fiala of Brooklyn, 
New York, to be carried out on practically the same lines laid 
out by Mr. Baldwin. 

Captain Edwin Coffin, of Edgartown, Massachusetts, was 
chosen as navigating officer, and he assembled an American 
crew, most of them experienced whalers. Of the Field Staff, 
Mr. William J. Peters, of the Geological Survey and represent- 
ing the National Geographic Society, was chosen as chief 
scientist and second in command of the expedition. The 
results of his systematic records and magnetical observations, 
when in the north, were of the highest value, and he rendered 
most efficient service. 

After collecting stores and equipment, the America sailed 
from Trondhjem, Norway, June 23, 1903. Brief stops were 
made at the island of Tromo and Archangel, where dogs, 
ponies, and additional stores were taken aboard. The ice 
was first met, July 13, in 74° 51' north latitude, 38° 37' east 



BETUEN OF EXPEDITION IN AUTUMN 433 

longitude, through which the America steamed and blasted 
her way to Cape Flora, which was reached August 12. A 
few days later Triplitz Bay was passed, with the "skeleton- 
like remains of the framework of the tent where lived the 
brave Abruzzi and his companions, standing out in plain view." 
The America made the highest northing of a ship under 
steam in the Western Hemisphere, and reached a point, 82° 
north latitude ; she then returned to Triplitz Bay. Upon 
landing, Fiala found the Abruzzi cache in excellent condition. 
"Camp Abruzzi" was established, scientific work at once 
begun, and preparations commenced for the spring sledge 
journey to the north. 

Severe gales struck in early in October, and continued 
almost unremittingly until the last of the month, when they 
raged with such fury as to threaten the safety of the ship. 

She bravely withstood the terrible ice pressures to which 
she was subjected until January 23, when, during a frightful 
hurricane, she disappeared from view. 

The first week in March a sledging journey was undertaken, 
comprising twenty-six men, sixteen pony-sledges, and thirteen 
dog-sledges, but the severity of storms, and the suffering and 
hardship endured from cold, decided the party to return, and 
camp was reached on March 11. Other journeys of short 
duration were undertaken with similar success. Leaving 
part of the company at Camp Abruzzi, Fiala made a retreat 
to Cape Flora, there to await the promised relief ship which 
was expected early in August. His idea was to renew his 
North Pole dash the following season. 

The expected ship was eagerly watched for, but as the 
months sped by one by one, and the ship did not come, 
preparations were made for wintering, and the liberal depots of 
supplies left by Jackson, Abruzzi, and Andree, were examined 
and found in excellent condition. 

"Elmwood," Jackson's little house, was dug out and 



434 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

made habitable. Communication was frequent between 
"Camp Abruzzi" and "Elm wood." 

Fiala, in a cold and dangerous journey, returned to Camp 
Abruzzi, where he made preparations for another spring jour- 
ney toward the Pole, to be undertaken with one companion, 
three dog teams, and a supporting column of three small 
detachments. Seaman Duffy, who had accompanied Fiala 
to Cape Barentz in August, 1904, and Camp Flora in June 
of the same year, was chosen as his companion. The start 
was made in March, but very slow progress was made. After 
days of disheartening travel, covering but a few miles a day, 
the conditions grew worse instead of better. "Our trail was 
from ice-cake to ice-cake," writes Fiala, "while we crossed the 
separating water by means of ice-bridges laboriously con- 
structed at the narrowest points with our ice-picks. In other 
places, we traversed monster pressure ridges that splintered 
and thundered under our feet, scaring the dogs until they 
whined and whimpered in their terror. It was difficult to 
find a cake of ice large enough for our small party to camp 
on. Deep snow and numerous water-lanes, with a high 
temperature and attendant fog, also impeded our advance." 

On March 22, the advance was abandoned, and ten days 
were occupied in the retreat. Camp Abruzzi was reached, 
April 1. 

The relief ship Terra Nova reached Cape Flora the end 
of July, picked up the party encamped there, and, touching at 
Cape Dillon, took aboard the remainder. It was then learned 
that in 1904 the Frithiof had made two bold attempts to reach 
Cape Flora, but had been unsuccessful. 



CHAPTER XXII 

Otto Sverdrup. — Four years' voyage of the Fram. — Journeys in 
Ellesraere Land. — Important exploration of Jones Sound. — Dis- 
covery of new lands. — Release of the Fram. Captain Roald 
Amundsen. — The voyage of the Gjoa. — Reaches head of Petersen 
Bay (King William Land). — Two years' stay. — Valuable sci- 
entific observations. — Visits from Eskimos. — Sledge journeys. 
— Release from the ice. — August 14, 1906. — Completion of 
the Northwest Passage. — Another Arctic winter. — Sledge jour- 
ney of Amundsen to Eagle City. — Release of the Gjoa. — 
Reaches San Francisco, 1907. 

In the Geographical Journal of November, 1902, Sir 
Clements R. Markham, President of the Royal Geographical 
Society of London, commenting on the remarkable achieve- 
ment of Otto Sverdrup and his gallant companions during 
four travelling seasons entailing four Arctic winters, expresses 
himself as follows : — 

"They have discovered the western side of Ellesmere Island 
and the intricate system of fiords, as well as three large islands 
west of Ellesmere Island ; they have explored the northern 
coast of North Devon ; they have connected Belcher's work 
with the coasts of Jones Sound ; they have reached a point 
within 60 miles of Aldrich's farthest ; and they have discov- 
ered that land north of the Parry Islands, the existence of 
which was conjectured, as far west as the longitude of the 
eastern coast of Melville Island. This includes the discovery 
of the northern sides of North Cornwall and Findlay Islands. 
In addition to the main Arctic problem which is thus solved, 
it is likely that the regions discovered will be of exceptional 
interest, from the winds and currents, the varying character 

435 



436 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

of the ice, the existence of coal-beds, and the abundance of 
animal life. A systematic survey has been made of these 
important discoveries, checked by astronomical observations." 

"We must look forward," concludes Markham, "to an 
account of these things, and to the details of the expedition, 
with the deepest interest ; and meanwhile we may well ex- 
press admiration for the way in which the work was conceived 
and executed, and at the perfect harmony with which all loy- 
ally worked under their chief. Without such harmonious 
work, success was not possible." 

The Norwegian, Otto Neumann Sverdrup, was born in 
Bindalen, in Helgeland, in 1855. At seventeen years of age he 
went to sea, passed his mate's examination in 1878, and for 
some years was captain of a ship. He accompanied Nansen 
on the Greenland expedition in 1888-1889 and was captain of 
the Fram on Nansen's famous Polar voyage. A few days 
after the return of this expedition in September, 1896, while 
the Fram was lying in Lysaker Bay, Dr. Nansen came aboard 
one morning. 

"Do you still wish to go on another expedition to the 
north?" he asked Sverdrup. 

"Yes, certainly, if only I had the chance," came the 
prompt reply. 

Then Nansen told him that Consul Axel Heiberg and the 
firm of brewers, Messrs. Ringnes Brothers, were willing to 
finance and equip another scientific Polar expedition, with 
Captain Sverdrup as leader. 

The Fram was loaned by the Norwegian government, and 
about eleven hundred pounds was granted by the " Storthing " 
for necessary alterations and repairs. The personnel of the 
expedition was most carefully selected, including Lieutenant 
Victor Banman of the Norwegian Navy, Lieutenant Ingvald 
Isachsen of the Army, the botanist Herman Georg Simmons, 
a graduate of the University of Lund ; and Edvard Bay, 



FOUR YEARS' VOYAGE OF THE " FRAM " 437 

zoologist, a graduate of the University of Copenhagen, the 
latter a member of Lieutenant Ryder's expedition to the 
east coast of Greenland in 1891. 

The From was ready for sea, June 24, 1898, and left her 
moorings with the quay packed with people and the fiord 
covered with small craft " which had come to see the last of 
us and wish us a safe return home." 

Captain Sverdrup's original plan was to push through 
Kennedy and Robeson channels and as far along the north 
coast of Greenland as possible before seeking winter quarters. 
The unfavourable seasons of 1898-1899 prevented him from 
carrying out his intentions, and he fortunately turned his 
attention to Jones Sound, which led to the completion of the 
most important Arctic work yet remaining; "namely, the 
discovery of what was hitherto unknown in the wide gap 
between Prince Patrick Island and Aldrich's farthest." 

Frustrated in his attempt to enter Kane Basin, Sverdrup 
wintered in Rice Strait, west of Cape Sabine. Immediate 
preparations were made for passing the cold season, and scien- 
tific observations and exploring trips occupied the autumn. 

In describing the sun sinking out of sight, Sunday, October 
16, 1898, Sverdrup says : — 

"We were looking at the sun for the last time that year. 
Its pale light lay dying over the 'inland ice' ; its disk, light 
red, was veiled on the horizon ; it was like a day in the land of 
the dead. All light was so hopelessly cold, all life so far away. 
We stood and watched it until it sank ; then everything became 
so still it made one shudder — as if the Almighty had deserted 
us, and shut the Gates of Heaven. The light died away across 
the mountains, and slowly vanished, while over us crept the 
great shades of the polar night, the night that kills all life. 
I think that each of us, as we stood there, felt his heart swell 
within him. Never before had we experienced homesickness 
like this — and little was said when we continued on our way. 



438 THE GEE AT WHITE NORTH 

. . . Here came Franklin, with a hundred and thirty-eight 
men. The polar night stopped him ; and not one returned. 
Here came Greely, with five and twenty men; six returned. . . . 
Well ! there lay the Fram, stout and defiant, like a little 
fairy-house, in the midst of the polar night. It was warm 
and bright in her cabins, and we worked with a will from 
morning to night." 

Sledge journeys, including a visit to the Windward, Lieu- 
tenant Peary's ship, and a personal interview with the ex- 
plorer himself ; visits to the Fram by neighbouring Eskimos 
and a brilliant journey across Ellesmere Land, occupied mem- 
bers of the Sverdrup expedition until May 17, 1899, when 
those on board the Fram celebrated with true patriotism the 
Independence Day of Norway. 

On one of the early summer sledge journeys, Dr. Johan 
Svendsen sacrificed his life. Overrating his endurance, he 
had rapidly failed, and though he persisted in remaining in 
the field, his strength did not return. After a day's work, 
Sverdrup came into camp, where Sclei and Simmons were 
cooking dinner. "The doctor said he felt much better," 
writes Sverdrup; "the pain in his side was gone, and his eyes 
had so far recovered that he could sit inside the tent without 
spectacles. ... I then asked him for a second time if he 
would not let me take him on board, now that we had all 
rested, but he would not hear of it, and said that he should 
prefer to remain where he was. I then offered to stay behind 
with him — we could collect insects and shoot seals together. 
But he would not let me defer the journey to Beitstadfjord, 
and said that the time would pass quickly, even when he was 
there alone. He could go out shooting, collect insects, and 
look after his dogs ; — he would have plenty to do. . . . We 
got ready for our four days' trip to Beitstadfjord, and the 
doctor helped us to carry down our things, lash the loads 
to the sledges, and harness the dogs. And then we said 



FOUR YEARS' VOYAGE OF THE " FRAM" 439 

good-by to one another, little thinking what was about to 
happen." 

Four days later the absent party returned. "To our great 
sorrow we found the doctor dead." 

On June 16, 1899, Captain Sverdrup made the entry in 
his journal : — 

"The flag is flying at half mast from the pole to-day. It 
is the first time it has been in this position on board the Fram, 
let us hope it will indeed be the last." 

The interesting journey across the "inland ice" of Elles- 
mere Land, by Isachsen and Braskerud was undertaken May 
23, 1899, with food for thirty days, and instruments and equip- 
ment ; a total weight of eight hundred and seventy-two 
pounds, divided equally upon the sledges, each drawn by six 
dogs. Choosing a route to the westward, Isachsen writes in 
his report : — 

"About midnight on June 2, we saw from the high ground 
to the northwest the first sight of what, later, proved the west 
coast. It was a fiord-arm, which cut into the land in an east- 
erly direction from the larger fiord lying almost due north 
and south. From the outer part of this fiord-arm a chain of 
mountains of equal heights ran in a southeasterly direction. 
Nearer, and in front of this chain, was a wide level waste — 
'Brakerndflya.' There was no snow, either on the waste or 
on the mountains. In one part only of the chain was a frag- 
ment of glacier to be seen hanging over the upper part of the 
mountain side. In the southeast the waste abutted imme- 
diately on the 'inland ice.' " 

Travelling over a glacier, they endeavoured to reach the bare 
land of the fiord ; this they succeeded in doing, June 4. 
"Three converging glaciers fell into a glacier-lake, and the 
following day we drove on this down the valley, but only for 
a couple of miles, which was the extent of its length. The 
ice on it was about to break up." 



440 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Having encamped, the two men rambled over a consider- 
able area in the vicinity ; finding luxuriant vegetation wher- 
ever there was bare land. At a distance some ten or eleven 
miles in a northwesterly direction, there was no " inland ice " 
west of the northernmost glaciers previously mentioned. 
After continuing their explorations for several days, they were 
forced to return through continued bad weather, fogs, and gales. 
On June 22, the thirtieth day since leaving the ship, — the 
food supply remaining was reduced to about fifty biscuits, 
ten and a half tablets of compressed lentils, about four pounds 
of pemmican, enough coffee for twice, six whole rounds, or 
seventy-two rations, of dog-food, and a half gallon of petro- 
leum. After a delay of six days by the inclement weather 
and a slow and difficult progress to the top of Leffert Glacier, 
it was with joy that a relief party from the ship were met 
with, and "the following day we drove down Leffert Glacier, 
on splendid snow, and reached the Fram on Sunday, July 2, 
at five in the morning." 

On August 4, the conditions being more favourable than 
heretofore, Captain Sverdrup endeavoured to navigate the 
Fram through Kane Basin. In Payer Harbor an American 
steamer was sighted, going northeast. To the joy of all, the 
steamer signalled she had letters on board for the Nor- 
wegians. 

The attempt to penetrate Kane Basin was unsuccessful; 
the Fram was forced back to Foulke Fjord, a short distance 
from one of Peary's ships. Captain Bartlett, Dr. Diedrick, 
and one or two other members of the expedition exchanged 
courtesies with the Norwegians. Mr. Bridgman and Profes- 
sor Libbey came aboard the Fram. 

It was learned that the mail brought north had been left 
at Payer Harbor. The Fram endeavoured to get it, but the 
impenetrable pack prevented, and after the most desperate 
efforts they gave up in despair. It was at this juncture, after 



SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS 441 

the abandonment of the plan to trace the northern extremity 
of Greenland, that Sverdrup transferred his base to the fiords 
of the north coast of Jones Sound. Securing no less than 
thirty-three walrus for dog-food, the Fram established the 
second winter quarters at Havnefjord in 96° 29' N., 84° 25' W. 
Game and seals were found in plenty during the autumn, 
also musk-oxen, hares, and reindeer. Most successful scien- 
tific researches were promoted, sledging parties continued 
explorations, and the only event to mar a happy autumn 
was the death of Braskerud. He had had a very bad cold, 
was ill a fortnight with a cough and had great difficulty in 
breathing, but had suffered no pain ; there was no doctor, and 
nothing could be done to relieve him ; he had kept his bed the 
last three days of his illness, and no one dreamed the end was 
so near. 

Preparations for the "grand sledge journey" of the spring 
kept the men busy during the winter and early in the season 
Isachsen, Bay, Schei, and Stolz, each man with a fall load, 
went to examine the outlying depots placed the previous fall. 
At Bjorneborg, the ravages of bears had caused loss of food 
and damaged equipment, and this serious menace to the suc- 
cess of the future journeys decided Captain Sverdrup to place 
a watchman at this lonely and isolated spot. Bay, the 
zoologist, volunteered for the duty and was appointed "Com- 
mandant of Bjorneborg." 

"On March 7," writes Sverdrup, "Fosheim and I started 
west in company with the newly appointed commandant. 
A little after twelve the following day we arrived at the boat- 
house. . . . After finishing our work we had dinner, which 
was as sustaining as it was splendid, and consisted of boiled 
beef, sausage, soup, and green peas. After dinner we had 
drams and coffee, and after supper grog. Early next morning, 
and on good ice, we drove on, running by the side of the loads 
nearly the whole day to increase the pace. We reached 



442 . THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Bjorneborg in the evening, where we found our new depot 
in good order. 

"Next day we set to work on the erection of the Com- 
mandant's residence. We built a very respectable house. 
. . . Like other residences of the kind, 'Bjorneborg' must 
have its flag, we thought, and as we were in possession of a 
flagstaff, which, considering our circumstances, was irre- 
proachable, we secured it to the roof, and ran up a 17th 
of May flag. But our Commandant was economical, and 
would only use it on occasions of especial ceremony. 

"Here Bay lived, absolutely alone, for three months, and 
during the first part of the time without so much as a living 
being for company ; afterwards he had a garrison consisting 
of a whole watch-dog. During all this long period I never 
saw him out of spirits." 

The following day, Sverdrup and Forheim made an exami- 
nation of the ice, which in the fiords was rugged and hum- 
mocky. Upon the return to the ship it was decided that 
Banmann, leading the supporting party, should leave the ship 
Saturday, March 17, with full loads, "with Bjorneborg as 
their destination ; returning thence to the boat-house to fetch 
provisions and dog-food, which were to be used on the ap- 
proaching journeys westward." 

For these journeys, Isachsen and Hassel were to make one 
party, Fosheim and Sverdrup the second, Schei and Peder 
the third. All were to meet at Bjorneborg on March 21, 
later to separate and journey in different directions. 

The following rations were allotted to the different parties : — 

Banmann and his men, 240 days' rations, about 530 pounds. 
Isachsen and Hassel . 100 days' rations, about 220 pounds. 
Sverdrup and Fosheim, 100 days' rations, about 200 pounds. 
Schei and Peder ... 80 days' rations, about 175 pounds. 
Bay 90 days' rations, about 200 pounds. 



SLEDGE JOURNEYS 443 

The "Great Expedition," upon which so much thought and 
care had been expended, was ready to start, March 20, 1900. 
"The weather was beautiful," writes Sverdrup, "and we drove 
out through the sound, east of Skreia, at a smart pace, taking, 
when south of it, a line direct for South Cape." 

On this journey in which Sverdrup and losheim traced the 
west shore of Ellesmere Land to 80° 50' N., a serious, yet 
amusing, incident occurred. "At certain places on our way," 
writes Sverdrup, "we came across huge rocks, some of which 
were as big as a cottage, and round them the snow had drifted 
to such a height that we could only just see the top. When 
we came nearer, we found that, as a rule, the wind had hol- 
lowed out a large empty space between the drift, and we were 
often met by a yawning pitfall twelve to eighteen feet in depth. 
... I should mention that we were obliged to drive above 
the rocks, as below was the open sea. ... It once hap- 
pened that, just as we were passing a rock of this kind, a gap 
occurred between my sledge and the one following it. As 
soon as I became aware of this, I pulled up ; but almost before 
I knew what was taking place, the dogs had made their usual 
frantic rush to catch up, and the sledge, men, and team were 
precipitated into the hole twelve feet below. A moment 
afterwards, before anything could be done to prevent it, the 
next sledge came tearing up and fell into the hole, and on the 
heels of number two came a third, which followed their ex- 
ample. ... In the grave lay pell-mell three men, eighteen 
dogs, and three sledges with their loads, and the snow was 
flying up from it in clouds. Here and there a sledge runner, 
or a sealskin strap, was sticking out. Then I saw one of the 
men crawling out of the medley and pulling himself together, 
then another, and another. Thank God, they were all alive ! 
And the clogs? They were lying in a black heap, one team 
on top of the other, kicking, howling, and fighting, till we could 
hardly hear the men's voices for their noise, so, apparently, 



444 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

they, too, were alive. As soon as we had hauled them all up, 
we set to work to shovel part of the drift away so that we could 
drag up the loads. The first sledge, which, after much toil, 
we succeeded in bringing up, strange to say, was whole, nor 
was there anything wrong with number two, while number 
three was as intact as the two former. The very astonishing 
result of this flight through the air was, therefore, that not a 
limb, nor a lashing, nor bit of wood was broken." 

While the travellers were in the field pursuing their peril- 
ous and exciting adventures, the Commandant at Bjorneborg 
was leading a lonely and monotonous life awaiting his chance 
to annihilate marauding Bruins. His first call to arms came 
soon after Captain Sverdrup's departure. Late one night, 
while half asleep, the Commandant, at that time without a 
garrison, thought he heard a faint sound in the depot. "I 
only turned round in the bag," he says, "and inwardly cursed 
Hassel's dogs, which were loose again and ransacking the 
depot. I was on the point of falling asleep once more, when 
it began to dawn on me that my reasoning had been wrong, 
for there were no dogs within many miles, and therewith I 
heard a crash, which seemed to make the earth tremble. 
A moment later I was out of the bag, had dragged my gun 
from its cover, and cocked it, for it suddenly occurred to me 
that my guest was a serious one. The first thing I did was 
to light the lamp, after which I began to move away some 
tins I had put in front of the door, that night for the first time, 
to keep it in place. The sounds still continued at the depot, 
but, in moving the last tin, I happened to make a slight noise, 
and then everything became as still as death. I raised the 
door and crept out. It was one o'clock (I had looked at my 
watch when I lit the lamp), and much darker than was pleas- 
ant for the work before me. 

"The bear, meanwhile, had made itself quite at home. In 
order to get at one of the blubber-cases, it had thrust the 




Courtesy oj Constable and Co., London, and E. P. Dutton and Co. 
Roald Amundsen 



SLEDGE JOURNEYS 445 

empty boxes out of its way, and had thrown down one of the 
dog-food boxes which had been placed on the cases of blubber. 
The marks of all its claws were clearly visible in the tin. The 
other box was open, and the bear had tasted a couple of rations, 
but had evidently not found them to his liking, for he had spat 
them out again into the box. It had then very carefully 
lifted the tin down on to the snow, and then — also very care- 
fully — raised the lid of the blubber box. But just as it 
was going to begin its meal, it had evidently heard my clatter 
inside the hut, and had sat down to listen, with its right paw 
clasping the edge of the box. It was in this position at any 
rate that I found it, when I raised myself up, after creeping 
out. The bear was about fifteen yards away from me, and 
as soon as it saw me rose, large, and fat and hissing; it made 
the open tin rattle as it put its left paw down on it. It looked 
just as if it were thumping the table, to show what a fine fellow 
it was, and reminded me of one of my friends on board — 
so much so that I half unwittingly addressed it in the way 
usual between us ; a manner, however, hardly fit for publica- 
tion. Whether the bear felt offended at this I know not, but 
certain it is that it got up and walked, growling, with long 
measured steps round the depot. I aimed, and shot it in the 
shoulder; I could just discern the sights through the darkness." 
"The bear uttered such a loud growl," continues the 
Commandant, "that it seemed to make the stillness ring. 
The fire from my gun had dazzled me, and I could no longer 
see the sights, and the bear itself I only saw as a shapeless 
mass, which seemed to have grown most incredibly larger. 
The other barrel, the small-shot barrel, which was loaded with a 
large ball, I fired straight into the mass without going through 
any such formality as aiming. Then I made a well-ordered 
retreat behind the hut, and put in some fresh cartridges. I 
do not much believe in hurrying, but I did this in less time 
than it takes to tell. To my great astonishment I did not see 



446 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

anything — not that I wanted to — of my enemy during this 
operation, but as soon as I was ready, I began to peer about 
after it, though at first without success. At last, on bending 
down, I caught sight of a large dark object a short distance 
away, at a spot where I knew there was no rock, — this, of 
course, must be the bear, but whether dead or alive it was im- 
possible to tell. I therefore advanced with much caution, 
and fired a shot at what I supposed to be its head. On closer 
examination it proved to be the other end of the bear I had 
bombarded ; but as a zoologist I, of course, knew that the 
head in Ursus maritimus is, as a rule, exactly at the opposite 
extremity to the after-end of the animal, and at last really 
succeeded in giving it some lead in the right place. The bear 
had, no doubt, been dead for some time, but discretion is 
the better part of valour. I then realized that I had killed 
my first bear ; to say that I was proud is nowhere near the 
mark." 

The Commandant had other visits from bears while leading 
the hermit's life at Bjorneborg, and the killing of a seal was 
also added to his achievements. On June 2, however, he left 
the castle where he had lived alone for almost a quarter 
of a year. — "It was not without a feeling of sadness," he 
writes, "that I saw the last glimpse of the spot as we rounded 
the steep bluffs of Stormkap, for, although my life there had 
been solitary and monotonous enough, — except on occasions 
when it had been extremely lively, — I felt I was leaving a 
home where I knew every stone and every irregularity of the 
ground — a place I had known in calm and the glory of sun- 
shine, as well as during the raging of the storms. And then, 
too, I had a feeling as if peace and quietness were at an end, 
for east of the Stormkap began for me the great busy world, 
which for so long now I had almost forgotten." 

A serious fire occurred on board the Fram, May 27, 1900. 
A spark from the galley falling upon the winter awning, was 



RELEASE FROM THE ICE 447 

supposed to be the cause of the conflagration. The loss of 
paraffin-prepared kayaks, a quantity of skis, and wood and 
other valuables were consumed, but the chief danger, which 
threatened the safety of the ship and all on board, was the 
proximity of the fire to an iron tank containing fifty gallons 
of spirit; so great was the heat of the fire that, though the tank 
held, the tinning on the outside was found melted. 

On August 9, after a summer of successful research, the 
conditions being favourable, Captain Sverdrup decided to 
push westward with the From. "Through the ice-free sound 
all went well, " he Avrites; "but farther out, east of the rocks, 
we entered the ice, and lay there ramming the whole day long. 
Whenever we got a chance we forged on full speed ahead ; 
and when perforce we came to a standstill, we backed to get 
an impetus, and gave another ram." Skirting the coast, the 
Fram pushed her difficult course to within about a mile and a 
half from North Devon, where on September 3, 1900, the ship 
was made ready for her third winter in the Arctic. On the 
15th, a storm disrupted the pack, and quick action on the part 
of officers and men was required to prepare the Fram for the 
opening of the ice which suddenly released her. As quickly 
as possible she was bearing toward Cardigan Strait, and 
steered through in easy waters, finally anchoring in the good 
winter harbour of Gaasefjord. The land in the vicinity of 
this harbour was rich in game, fauna, and interesting fossils. 

Captain Sverdrup describes a curious experience while out 
hunting. In a small valley he discovered countless hare- 
tracks, which crossed and recrossed one another in every 
direction, the snow in places having been trodden in hard runs. 
Calling his telescope to his aid, he made out what he had mis- 
taken for a group of white stones a short distance off, to be a 
group of Arctic hares, thirty-one in number, evidently at 
rest, with one plainly acting as sentinel. 

Although Sverdrup approached with great caution, the 



448 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

hare on guard suddenly took alarm and, starting up, ran wildly- 
round her flock, striking her hind legs on the ground till it 
fairly resounded, then setting off at a brisk pace over the 
ridge of a hill, the others following in a long line and presently 
disappearing. 

At a short distance two others, evidently not belonging 
to the other lot, remained by themselves. "I thought," 
writes Sverdrup, "it would be interesting to go across to them 
if possible, and see what they were about, but realized I must 
make use of other tactics if I would approach near them. 
This, I thought, was a fitting moment to impersonate a rein- 
deer, or some other kind of big game, and I made a valiant 
attempt to simulate their grazing movements backwards and 
forwards on the sward. . . . My tactics were so successful 
that, in the end, I was not much more than two or three yards 
away from them. It was quite touching to. see these great 
innocent Arctic hares sitting only a few paces off, quietly 
gnawing roots. The only notice they vouchsafed me was 
an occasional sniff in my direction. . . , 

" I stayed long fraternizing with the hares down on the grass, 
and at last we did not mind each other in the very least. 
They went on with their occupations quite unconcernedly; I 
with mine. I felt something like Adam in Paradise before 
Eve came, and all that about the serpent happened." 

Hunting expeditions and autumnal sledge journeys at an 
end, the winter set in with plenty of work to do for every 
one on board the Fram. The smithy was called upon for 
endless labour; the taking of observations and the many other 
daily occupations caused the long Arctic night to pass with 
less monotony and depression. A visitation from wolves 
added excitement to the winter, and various methods were 
tried for their capture. 

The explorations of 1901 proved Heiberg Land to be an 
island, separated by Heureka Strait ; this was explored as far 



"fram's" second polar expedition 449 

as its junction with Greely Fjord, but another year remained 
before the Norwegian standard was carried to 81° 37' N., 
92° W., where it was raised, May 13, 1902, and the outline of 
coast completed to Aldrich's farthest. 

Having made one of the most brilliant records in Arctic 
history, the members of the Fram's second polar expedition 
turned toward their native land, and on August 6, 1902, the 
Fram began her triumphant retreat from the Great White 
North. 

"Homeward ! What a strange ring in the simple word !" 
cries Captain Sverdrup. "On our long and laborious sledge 
journeys we had many a time used it when we thought of the 
Fram, and a good home the Fram had been these four years, 
warm and strong and well provided, but that was in another 
way. Now the longing for home coursed through our blood, 
and all the yearning, which we had thrust aside during these 
long years, broke loose, rang in our ears, and made our hearts 
beat faster. Half-forgotten memories and dawning hopes 
came back again. A sea of thoughts streamed in on us and 
tied our tongues in the midst of the joy at going home. It 
was a moment full of promise when we knew that we were 
looking for the last time on these mountains and fiords, which 
for so long had been the object and scene of our endeavor." 

September 26, the Fram reached Christiansand, and two 
days later she dropped anchor for a few hours at Langgrunden, 
off Horten. Quite a fleet of steamers and sailing-boats 
escorted her from Stavanger to Christiania, which was 
reached "on a beautiful Sunday which recalled to us the day, 
four years since, when we had gone the other way." . . . 
"So the Fram's second polar expedition was at an end," 
concludes Captain Sverdrup. "An approximate area of one 
hundred thousand square miles had been explored, and, in 
the name of the Norwegian King, taken possession of. If the 
members of the expedition have been able to do anything, 
2g 



450 THE Git EAT WHITE NORTH 

this is owing in the first instance to the sacrifices of generous 
Norwegians ; that we have not done more is, at any rate, 
not owing to want of will." 

The successful navigation of the long-sought Northwest 
Passage by Captain Roald Amundsen has been one of the 
stirring events of the early twentieth century. Of this hardy 
Norseman, and what he accomplished, Mr. Alger gives an 
interesting account in Putnam's Magazine : — 

"Born July 16, 1872, at Borge, in the district of Smaalenene, 
southern Norway, he comes from an old sea-faring family, 
and has had much experience as a sailor. As an officer he 
took part in the Belgian South Pole expedition of 1897, on 
board the Belgica, and it was down in the Antarctic regions 
that he first planned his famous Arctic voyage. On the 
whaler, Gjoa, a ship of only 46 tons, he left Christiania in 
May, 1903, with a crew of seven men ; and three years later, 
in the summer of 1906, the news was spread over the world 
that he had accomplished what no man before him had suc- 
ceeded in doing. He had not only sailed through the North- 
west Passage, but had located the Magnetic Pole and other- 
wise gathered much scientific information of the greatest 
value in regard to these little-known regions." 

The Gjoa was especially strengthened and refitted through- 
out. She was amply provisioned for five years, and her crew 
most carefully selected. Second in command was Lieutenant 
Godfred Hansen of the Danish Navy. First mate Auto Lund 
of Tromsoe had had long years of service in the sealing trade. 
Peder Ristredt, a sergeant in the Norwegian Army, was first 
engineer. Helmer Hansen, also an experienced sealer, a 
good snow-shoer and hunter, was second mate. Gustav 
Juel, second engineer, was to take part in the magnetic obser- 
vations, but he died on the trip from pneumonia, in March, 
1906. Adolf Linstrom served as cook, having served in the 
same capacity aboard the Fram. 



SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS 451 

Sailing at midnight, June 16, 1903, from Christiania, Cape 
Farewell, Greenland was sighted five weeks later. Securing 
ten fine dogs at Godhaven from Herr Dongaad Jensen, In- 
spector for North Greenland, they entered Melville Bay, 
August 8. On August 15, they came in sight of Dalrymple 
Rock; at this point two Scotch whaling captains — Milne 
and Adams — had deposited certain stores for Amundsen. 
The Gjoa was unexpectedly met in kayaks by members of 
the Danish Literary Greenland expedition, Herr Mylius 
Eriksen and Herr Knut Rasmussen. An exchange of cour- 
tesies was followed by the loading of the Gjoa with the pack- 
ages from Dalrymple Rock. Pushing through the lanes, at 
full steam, they emerged into open water in Baffin Bay, and 
later entered Lancaster Sound, anchoring at Beechey, Au- 
gust 22. On August 24, they pushed into Peel Sound. The 
efficiency of the compass now ceased, and they were compelled 
to navigate by the stars whenever they appeared through the 
fog, which prevailed most of the time. Passing along the 
west coast of Boothia Felix, they came to grief by grounding on 
September 1 and were obliged to "lighten the ship by throw- 
ing overboard the greater part of the deck cargo. On Sat- 
urday, September 12, entered Gjoa Harbor" — a small land- 
locked cove at the head of Petersen Bay (King William 
Land), and here they remained for nearly two years. 

Immediate preparations were made for wintering, pro- 
visions landed, observatories erected, and Amundsen at once 
began his valuable scientific observations. 

"In order to ensure accuracy," writes General Greely 
in the Century, 1907, "the magnetic instruments were in- 
stalled in temporary wooden buildings, built with copper nails, 
and entirely free of any iron, heat, or even light, except the 
lamp behind the reflector. Here day and night, for twenty 
months, were made photograph records, and these were sup- 
plemented by personal eye-readings to serve as needful 



452 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

checks on those photographically obtained. The observers 
in this work were clothed entirely in deerskin- garments, and 
before entering the building where the magnetometres were 
installed, carefully divested themselves of watches, keys, 
knives, and other metallic objects. The observations were 
made in winter under such conditions of cold, monotony, and 
darkness as to merit the highest commendation for endurance 
and constancy." And he continues, "The value of the con- 
tinuous observations at Gjoa Harbor was largely increased 
by similar observations in the field, which necessarily entailed 
severe exposure and consequent hardships on the sledging 
parties. In March, 1904, a preliminary journey, made for 
the purpose of establishing food depots, involved much suf- 
fering owing to excessive cold, the temperature falling to 
79° below zero, Fahr. The sledge journey to the Magnetic 
Pole itself was made by Amundsen and Ristvedt, starting 
April 2, 1904, with ten dogs and two sledges, much difficulty 
resulting from rough ice. 

"Five observation stations were occupied between Gjoa 
Harbor and Tasmania Islands, which are about eighty miles 
directly north of Ross's magnetic pole. This field work 
occupied about two months, being summarily finished at the 
end of May, owing to loss of food through the thieving 
• Itchnachtorviks of eastern Boothia. While no definite 
result of the field observations can yet be given, it is not 
thought that there has been any decided change from the 
magnetic conditions observed by Ross in 1831, when the pole 
of declination was in the neighborhood of Cape Adelaide, 
70° 05' N., 96° 44' W." 

On April 1, 1905, Lieutenant Hansen and Ristvedt, with 
two sledges, twelve dogs, and provisions for three months, 
visited Victoria, and after charting half of the missing coast- 
line returned June 24. 

Neighbours were not lacking these isolated white men. 



AUGUST 14, 1906 453 

Frequent visits from Eskimos, and the news of American fisher- 
men to the south, permitted of letters being forwarded by 
Eskimos. 

On August 14, 1906, all conditions being favourable, the 
Gjoa weighed anchor and proceeded westward in open water, 
and within a few hours had successfully passed through Etta 
Sound, the narrowest place in the Northwest Passage, a tor- 
tuous channel between Etta Island and the mainland. The 
following day they threaded their way through a group of 
newly discovered islands in shallows that constantly neces- 
sitated the use of the lead. 

A heavy pack was encountered in Victoria Strait, but they 
continued on their way "through the strait between Victoria 
Land and the mainland," thence through "Dease Strait and 
Coronation Gulf out into Dolphin and Union straits, and on 
the morning of August 25 sighted Nelson Head — a tall and 
imposing headland." 

Having successfully passed from the Atlantic side into 
the Pacific side, the Gjoa had the good fortune to speak on 
the same day the American whaling schooner, Charles Hans- 
son, from San Francisco. A delay of twenty-four hours was 
caused by the ice off Cape Bathurst. Near Bailey Island, 
several beset whalers were encountered, and the barks 
Alexander and Bowhead were sighted off Pullen Island. 

Cape Sabine was reached September 2 — but progress 
was only made to King Point, about thirty-five miles east of 
Herschel Island, where the Gjoa was forced to put in another 
Arctic winter. 

On October 13, Amundsen, with a sledge and five dogs, made 
a journey of five months' duration, covering a distance of 
fifteen hundred miles to Eagle City, Alaska. This included a 
two months' sojourn in Eagle City, when all despatches were 
forwarded, and mails received, for himself and other members 
of the expedition. 



454 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

The following August, the Gjoa was freed, but on the 19th 
of that month she received a bad injury to her propeller by 
grounding on a piece of ice, so continued her journey entirely 
under sail. She arrived at San Francisco, October 19, with a 
rich cargo of ethnographical, zoological, and botanical speci- 
mens, and many furs and curios. These were freighted to 
Christiania, the Gjoa taken charge of by Admiral Lyons, 
commandant of the Mare Island Navy-yard, and Amundsen 
and his companions started by rail for home. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Robert E. Peary. — The man. — First visit to the Arctic, 1886. — ■ 
Other journeys, 1891. — Independence Bay, Greenland. — Dis- 
covers Melville Land and Heilprin Land. — Subsequent journeys, 
1893-1895. — Discovery of famous " Iron Mountain." — Summer 
voyages, 1896-1897. — North Pole journey of 1898. — Peary seri- 
ously disabled by frost-bites. — Polar expedition in S. S. Roosevelt, 
1905-1906. —Final dash for the Pole, 1908. 

For nearly a quarter of a century the name of Robert 
Edwin Peary has been closely identified with Arctic work. 
No man in the history of exploration has renewed his attacks 
upon the impassable barriers of the Great White North with 
such perseverance, endurance, and determination. Again 
and again in the face of disappointments, bodily disablements, 
failures, and discouragements that would have blasted the 
most sanguine hopes of the average man, he has persisted 
in his endeavours, returned to the field of action, fought gal- 
lantly the disheartening fight, come back to receive the 
polite indifference or enthusiastic praise of his countrymen, 
turned his energies to raising the necessary funds to renew 
his enterprise, and when this was done, faced to the north 
and passed again beyond the Arctic Circle. 

He is typically American, tall, lean, wiry, muscular, keen- 
eyed, alert, positive, and possessed of that indomitable will 
which conquers or dies. Born in Cresson, Pennsylvania, 
May 6, 1856, he had early the misfortune to lose his father, 
and his widowed mother, with her boy of three, returned to 
her relatives and friends in New England and made her home 
in Portland, Maine. Here Peary, the lad, grew up, fond of 

455 



456 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

the sea and the woods, loving the wild roar of the ocean as it 
beat upon the rocky coast, or the gentle summer winds 
whispering amid the northern pines. 

He loved to roam, to explore, to find adventure, and to lead 
others to it, and in his schoolboy days he was noted for his 
athletic tastes and powers of endurance. At twenty-one 
years of age he completed his college life at Bowdoin, gradu- 
ating second in a class of fifty-one, and four years later had 
passed the examinations which made him Civil Engineer in 
the United States Navy. From duty in Florida he was trans- 
ferred to the Nicaragua Canal zone, where he remained en- 
gaged in the Interocean Ship-canal Survey from 1884 to 1885. 

He returned under government orders to Washington in 
the fall of that year, and during a leisure hour, in an old book- 
store, he accidentally came upon a paper on the Inland Ice of 
Greenland. Remembering the adventures of Dr. Kane which 
had thrilled him as a boy, and reading the experiences of 
Nordenskjold, Jensen, and the rest, Peary felt he must know 
for himself what was the truth of this great mysterious in- 
terior. 

Thus early had the seed of ambition to explore the land of 
the mysterious north germinated in his active mind. 

The following year he received permission from the Depart- 
ment for leave of absence to make a reconnoissance of the 
Greenland ice-cap, east of Disco Bay, 70° north latitude. 

Accompanied by Christian Maigaard, a Dane, and eight 
natives, Peary examined the coast and fiords, penetrated the 
inland ice, and visited among other interesting spots the 
Tossukatek Glacier, the base of Npursoak Peninsula, and the 
fossil beds of Atanekerdluk. "Here," he says, "I found 
fragments of trees, black petrifactions with the grain of the 
wood and the texture of the bark showing clearly. Pieces 
of sandstone split readily into sheets, between which were to 
be seen sharp, clear impressions of large net-veined leaves, 



FIRST VISIT TO THE ARCTIC 457 

every tiniest veinlet and minute serratum of the edges dis- 
tinct as the lines of a steel engraving ; long, slender, parallel- 
veined leaves and exquisite feathery forms." 

Full of enthusiasm for further adventure in the land of 
desolation, where the wild vivid poppy flourishes in sheltered 
nooks, near eternal glaciers; where a lifeless desert of per- 
petual snow, from five thousand to ten thousand feet above 
the level of the sea, extends over an area of some twelve 
hundred miles in length and five hundred in width, — a 
glistening shroud, — covering the mighty rocks of ages, the 
buried summits of high mountains thousands of feet below, 
— Peary returned to the United States and in a newspaper 
article attracted the attention of the Philadelphia Academy 
of Natural Sciences, which offered to defray part of the ex- 
pense of his second expedition. 

Peary left, June 6, 1891, in the Kite, and with his party, 
including Mrs. Peary; Langdon Gibson, ornithologist and 
hunter; Dr. Frederick A. Cook, surgeon; Eivind Astrup, a 
Norwegian; John M. Verhoeff, mineralogist and meteorol- 
ogist; and Matthew Henson, a coloured man, landed at M'Cor- 
mick Bay in August. An unfortunate accident aboard the 
Kite, which resulted in a broken leg, caused Peary disap- 
pointment and delay in carrying out his autumn plans. 
However, "Red Cliff House" was erected, communications 
with the natives established, and such work carried on as 
Peary's unfortunate condition would permit. In April, 1892, 
Peary, being fully restored to health, left Red Cliff House and 
explored Inglefield Gulf; his next move was to establish 
caches of provisions to be used on his sledge journey across 
the ice-cap. 

This journey was undertaken in May ; four sledges, to which 
were harnessed sixteen dogs, carried the provisions and 
equipment. A supporting party advanced with Peary to a 
point about one hundred miles from M'Cormick Bay. The 



458 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

explorer, with one companion, Astrup, proceeded over the great 
ice at an elevation of about five thousand feet, and by May 31 
looked down into Peterman Fjord. "Here," says Peary, 
"we were on the ice-bluffs forming the limit of the great glacier 
basin, just as we had been at Humboldt, but a trifle less for- 
tunate here than at Humboldt. I found it necessary to 
deflect some ten miles to the eastward, to avoid the inequali- 
ties of the glacier basin, and the great crevasses which cut 
the ice-bluffs encircling it." 

Peary's object now was to make the east coast of Green- 
land, following the edge of the ice-cap, beset with crevasses, 
slippery ice, hummocks, drifting snow and fogs, and the jour- 
ney was continued until July 4, 1892, when they reached 
Independence Bay, 81° 37' north latitude. An ascent of 
Navy Cliff revealed a magnificent panorama of rugged, 
majestic, ice-free country to the north, and the broad ex- 
panse of the East Greenland Ocean. 

Strange it seemed that in this remote country in sheltered 
nooks the flowers bloomed; the hum of bees, the drone of 
flies, fell upon the ear; the snow-bunting, the sandpiper, a 
Greenland falcon, and a pair of ravens greeted the adven- 
turers. Musk-ox fed upon the patches of greensward, and 
no less than five fell to Peary's rifle and supplied men and dogs 
with abundant meat. 

• The return journey back to M'Cormick Bay, a distance of 
some four hundred and fifty miles, was made over the ice-cap 
in the face of violent storms and wind, through drifts and fog, 
with diminished provisions and failing dogs. 

A joyful meeting with Professor Heilprin and party, who 
had come north a month before with the Kite, took place 
on the Inland Ice, at the head of M'Cormick Bay, and a 
happy return was made to Red Cliff House. 

The results of Peary's second voyage to the Arctic, embrac- 
ing the great twelve-hundred-mile journey, determined the 



DISCOVERS MELVILLE LAND 459 

northern extension and insularity of Greenland ; made the 
discovery of detached ice-free land-masses of less extent to 
the northward, and established the rapid convergence of the 
Greenland shores above the 78th parallel. It also in- 
cluded the discovery of Melville Land and Heilprin Land, 
and the accumulation of most valuable scientific data, 
besides laying the foundation for Peary's comprehensive study 
of the Greenland Highlanders, or native Eskimo. 

Immediately upon his return to the United States, Peary 
devoted his energies to a lecture tour from which he hoped 
to derive the necessary funds to promote a more extended 
exploration of Northeast Greenland. 

Granted three years' leave of absence by the Hon. B. F. 
Tracy, Secretary of the Navy, the North Greenland expedi- 
tion of 1893-1894 sailed in the Falcon, June, 1893, and entered 
the mouth of Bowdoin Bay, in Inglefield Gulf, August 3. 

Here a house was rapidly constructed, stores landed, the 
Falcon making a brief trip after the winter supply of meat, 
with a stop at Life-Boat Cove, where a visit was made to the 
site of Polaris House. A few relics were picked up bearing 
the stamp of the United States Navy-yard at Washington, 
dated 1865 to 1870. The 20th of August, after her return 
to the station at Bowdoin Bay, the Falcon steamed south, leav- 
ing the little group of fourteen persons, including, among 
others, Mr. and Mrs. Peary, Mr. Samuel J. Entrikin, Eivind 
Astrup, Dr. Edward E. Vincent, Mr. E. B. Baldwin, Mrs. 
Susan J. Cross, and the coloured man, Matthew Henson. 

On September 12, in this far-away land, the famous 
"snow baby" was born, little blue-eyed Marie Ahnighito 
Peary, and "bundled deep in soft, warm Arctic furs, and 
wrapped in the Stars and Stripes." 

In early March, 1894, the last preparations were completed 
for a second twelve-hundred-mile journey across the Green- 
land Ice-cap. On the 6th of the month, accompanied by 



460 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

eight men, twelve sledges, and ninety-two dogs, Peary as- 
cended the Inland Ice. The advance of such a caravan was 
slow and heavy. The dogs of the various teams, being unac- 
customed to one another, were constantly fighting ; the pene- 
trating cold nipped with frost-bites the hands and feet of his 
men, so that after an advance of one hundred and thirty-four 
miles, at an elevation of five thousand five hundred feet, 
Peary determined at the end of thirteen days to cache 
surplus stores, send back the majority of his men, and pro- 
ceed with three men alone. But the conditions of cold and 
storms were too adverse for human endurance, the thermom- 
eter reaching as low as — 60°. The dogs were reduced to a 
most pitiable condition, many dying from exposure. On 
April 10, having advanced only about eighty-five miles, 
Peary decided it was inadvisable to attempt to proceed and 
prepared for his return to Bowdoin Bay. 

Abandoning and caching all unnecessary impedimenta, 
with only twenty-six dogs remaining out of the original num- 
ber, the party reached the station in a much enfeebled and 
reduced state. 

Though temporarily defeated in the main object of his 
enterprise, Peary had gleaned much information concerning 
the famous " Iron Mountain " of Melville Bay, first mentioned 
by Captain Ross in 1818, and as part of the programme he had 
laid down for himself, a visit to that interesting spot was 
undertaken. On May 27, 1894, Peary located this remark- 
able meteorite, leaving a cairn with records at a short distance 
from the spot. 

In the meantime, Astrup had made a successful sledge 
journey and reconnoissance of Melville Bay, and carefully 
charting much of its hitherto little-known northeastern shore. 

The last of July, the Falcon, with a party of scientists 
aboard, including, among others, Professor T. C. Chamberlin, 
Professor Wm. Libbey, Jr., H. L. Bridgman, and Mrs. Peary's 




Courtesy of F. A. Stokes Company 
Cairn erected over the Body of Marvin 



462 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

brother, Emil Diebitsch, anchored in M'Cormick Bay. 
After a sojourn in northern waters, it returned to the United 
States, carrying on board the entire Peary party, with the 
exception of the indomitable leader and two companions, Lee 
and Henson. Peary's resources were limited; food and fuel 
were reduced so as to menace future activities, and the visit 
of a relief ship in the summer of 1895 depended practically 
upon Mrs. Peary's sole exertions. Nevertheless, Peary deter- 
mined to remain, and, immediately enlisting the natives to 
assist him, he drew on the country for his supplies". 

The fall was occupied in the chase after reindeer and Arctic 
hare for human food, and walrus meat for the dogs; and 
later an examination and rehabilitation of the nearer caches 
of provisions left on the Inland Ice. 

The monotonous winter passed, and as the spring advanced 
the day of departure approached for the next great journey 
across the Greenland ice. On April 2, 1895, the little band, 
consisting of its intrepid leader, with Lee and Henson, four 
natives, and the six sledges with their dog teams, started 
northward. 

The fierce storms of winter had obliterated the marked 
caches; in vain was the immediate neighbourhood scoured in 
every direction, sometimes to a distance of five miles; no 
signs of the looked-for depots could be discovered. 

Though Eskimos deserted and turned back, Peary still 
pushed on, at last left with only the two companions, some 
forty dogs and three sledges. The prospect was indeed dis- 
mal. Lee became disabled by frost-bites; the dogs died; the 
gaunt form of starvation loomed on the horizon. May 8, 
Lee could proceed no farther, and was left in camp, distant 
some sixteen miles from the coast, while Peary and Henson 
advanced in the desperate search for game. Four days and 
nights death by starvation faced them, in the fruitless search 
for food. Then, disappointed, back to camp, and a desperate 




Courtesy of F. A. Stokes Company 
Camp Morris Jesup 



SUMMER VOYAGES, 1896-1897 4G3 

march to Independence Bay. Then down the tortuous val- 
ley, across rocks, cobble, and boulder, the men plunged on. 
"A few miles beyond the valley, I saw a fresh hare track," 
says Peary, "and a few hundred yards beyond came upon the 
hare itself, squatting among the rocks a few paces distant. 
With the sight of the beautiful spotless little animal, the feel- 
ing of emptiness in the region of my stomach increased. I 
called to Matt, who was some little distance back, to stop the 
dogs and come up with his rifle. He was so affected by the 
prospect of a good supper, his first and second bullets missed 
the mark, but at the third the white object collapsed into a 
shapeless mass, and on the instant gaunt hunger leapt upon 
us like a wolf upon its prey. ... It was the first full meal 
we had had since the Eskimos left us thirty-five days ago." 

Later musk-ox fell to the hunter's aim, which restored 
courage and strength to the desperate men. They reached 
the cairn which Peary had erected in 1892, and found the 
papers there still intact. To linger in the vicinity meant a 
constant consumption of food for which they were not pre- 
pared. There was yet the long journey back over the dread 
ice-cap, eight thousand feet above the level of the sea. With 
nine dogs, and food for seventeen days only, they retraced 
their steps, fleeing in forced marches, from that ever present 
gaunt form, Starvation, closing upon their wake. 

One by one the faithful dogs died by the wayside. This 
retreat over the Great Ice is one of the most desperate 
struggles in Arctic history. At last, June 25, the three 
starving, exhausted men reached Bowdoin Bay. "At the 
beginning of the last day there were left four biscuits, saved 
from the half and quarter rations of the preceding weeks; 
and one dog was still alive, the sole survivor of a pack of 
forty-two." 

"Poor brute !" says Peary, "the memory of those famine 
days upon the ' Great Ice ' remained so vividly with him, that 



464 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

for weeks after our return, though weak and afflicted like 
ourselves, he might be seen at any time, when not asleep, 
hiding away every bit of meat or blubber, and every bone 
that he could find about the place." 

A few weeks of recuperation fitted the men for the journey 
home, and relief ship Kite, in charge of Captain Bartlett, 
reached them in early August. 

In 1896 and 1897, Peary made two summer voyages to the 
Arctic for the purpose of transferring to the United States the 
largest of the three Cape York meteorites. On the first trip 
he was successful in dislodging this ninety-ton mass from the 
ice grip of centuries, but was compelled to leave it until the 
next season, when he successfully had it transferred to the 
hold of the Hope, the Peary ship of that year, and the world 
wonder now reposes in the Museum of Natural History, New 
York City. 

During these active years Peary had made warm friends, 
men who had said to him with the same confidence expressed 
by Theodore Roosevelt, "I believe in you, Peary," and the 
Peary Arctic Club was formed, headed by that generous 
benefactor, Morris K. Jesup, as President, Frederick E. Hyde, 
Vice-President, Henry W. Cannon, Treasurer, and Herbert 
L. Bridgman, Secretary, and others to lend encouragement 
and financial aid. 

Peary's ambitions had not been satisfied by his brilliant 
achievements in twice crossing the Greenland ice-cap, and the 
lure of the Arctic had long beckoned him to try to reach the 
northernmost extremity of the earth. 

His journey of 1898 to 1902 under the auspices of the Peary 
Arctic Club had for its main purpose the attainment of the 
Pole itself. His carefully laid plan was to advance toward 
the Pole by the west coast of Greenland, and establish food 
stations, depending upon picked Eskimos for cooperation 
with his small party. In the final dash, supporting sledges 




rC -M 



X 3 



O 




PEARY SERIOUSLY DISABLED BY FROST-BITES 465 

would be sent back as soon as emptied, and the returning 
explorer, with two companions, would be met by a relief party 
of Eskimos. 

Mr. Harmsworth of London generously gave his yacht, the 
Windward, for this expedition. Peary started with every 
prospect of success. The Windward endeavoured to force a 
passage into Kennedy Channel, but was obliged to seek 
shelter and winter quarters at Cape D'Orville. In early 
autumnal journeys Peary determined the continuity of Elles- 
mere and Grinnell lands, and prepared to make his head- 
quarters at Fort Conger. In January, 1899, came a sudden 
and most disheartening set-back to his ambitious plans. 
While on this dangerous sledge journey, in a frightful tem- 
perature that ranged between 51° to 63° below zero, he had 
both feet badly frozen, and this grave injury, which nearly 
cost him his life, resulted in the amputation of eight toes ; 
but not before weeks of suffering had been passed in the 
melancholy winter darkness at Greely's old quarters. 

"During the following weeks," writes Peary, "our life at 
Conger was pronouncedly a la Robinson Crusoe. Searching 
for things in the unbroken darkness of the 'Great Night,' with 
a tiny flicker of flame in a saucer, was very like seeking a 
needle in a haystack." At last, on the 18th of February, in the 
moonlight, they started back to the ship. Lashed firmly 
down, with feet and legs wrapped in musk-ox skin, Peary was 
dragged, in the cold Arctic night, a distance of two hundred 
and fifty miles in eleven days. 

Disheartening weeks of inaction and suffering aboard the 
Windward, but partially restored his health; nevertheless, 
in April, while still on crutches, he was dragged on sledges 
to Fort Conger. This season was passed in scientific work 
and map making. While crossing Ellesmere Land ice-cap 
in July, at an elevation of seven thousand feet, Peary dis- 
covered Cannon Bay. 
2h 



466 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

Other results of his indefatigable endeavours were the col- 
lecting of relics of the Lady Franklin Bay expedition, which 
were sent home by the Windward, the sextant and record of 
the Nares expedition were also found and sent back to be 
presented to the Lords of the Admiralty of Great Britain, 
and placed in the Museum of the Royal Naval College at 
Greenwich. 

Each season a vessel was sent to Greenland to carry him 
supplies, and bring back letters. Small parties of scientists, 
university students, and hunters took advantage of the 
opportunity to sail north and be left at various points, to be 
called for on the vessel's return. 

In 1899, Dr. Robert Stein of the United States Geological 
Survey, Dr. Leopold Kann of Cornell, and Mr. Samuel Warm- 
bath had taken passage in the Peary supply ship Diana 
for explorations in Ellesmere Land. 

In the fall of 1899, the Windward returned to the United 
States, leaving Peary in Etah, where he remained until the 
following March, when he journeyed to Fort Conger, and 
from there made his northern dash in an attempt to reach the 
Pole. The explorer followed closely the route laid down by 
Brainard and Lockwood, and, on May 8, beat their record ; 
later he reached the most northern point of land to which he 
gave the name of Cape Morris K. Jesup, 83° 39' N. From 
this point his travel was over the disintegrating polar pack, 
an advance of "ridges of heavy ice thrown up to heights of 
twenty-five to fifty feet, crevasses and holes masked by snow, 
the whole intersected by narrow leads of open water." Hav- 
ing reached 83° 54' N., he then returned to Cape Morris Jesup 
and followed the coast of Melville Land for some distance, 
then returned south. In 1901, he attempted another northern 
journey, but found advance impossible after reaching Lincoln 
Bay. 

Undaunted by failure, his next attempt was made in Febru- 



POLAR EXPEDITION IN S. S. "ROOSEVELT" 467 

ary, 1902, and reached, April 21, 84° 17' N., but again he was 
forced back, after risking his own life and that of his com- 
panions over the worst ice he had ever encountered. Mo- 
mentarily discouraged, he wrote at this time : "The game is 
off. My dream of sixteen years is ended. I have made the 
best fight I knew. I believe it has been a good one. But 
I cannot accomplish the impossible." 

After four years of strenuous endeavour in the face of the 
most disheartening failure, Peary came back to the United 
States, took courage once more, renewed the losing fight, and 
planned his seventh voyage into the Arctic. 

Under the auspices of the Peary Arctic Club, a model ship 
was built for the sole purpose of assisting Peary in accom- 
plishing the work upon which he had set his heart, lavished 
his fortune, and staked the confidence of his friends. The 
result was the building of the Roosevelt, the most modern of 
ice-fighters. The plans for the Roosevelt allowed a length of 
one hundred and eighty-four by thirty-five feet beam and 
sixteen feet draft, loaded. She was provided with engines 
capable of developing one thousand horse-power ; she carried 
a light three-masted schooner rig. Her hull was especially 
designed to resist the terrific pressure of the ice-floes, and of 
such shape to lift easily from the treacherous ice cradles in 
which she was expected to test her resisting qualities. In this 
splendid craft, Peary started north in 1905 ; and boldly 
ploughed the Roosevelt farther than any vessel had yet pene- 
trated, reaching nearly 82° 30' north latitude on the north 
coast of Grant Land. The Roosevelt wintered at Cape Sheri- 
dan, and from this high latitude Peary started in February, 
1906, for the Pole. Everything seemed favourable, im- 
proved equipment, Eskimo assistance, well-laid caches, and 
Peary himself full of the eternal vigour, which, in spite of 
years of hardship, gave to his mind and body the elasticity 
of youth. 



468 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

On — across the interminable obstacles — on — past one 
degree and then another, with the ever present problem of 
cold, storm, rough ice, and diminishing food, until finally the 
forces of nature baffled once again the forces of human 
strength. At 87° 6', the uncompromising voices of the North 
cried out, "This far shalt thou come, and no farther." Back 
once more — step by step — over hummock, crevasse, and floe, 
over thin and treacherous ice, across the big lead whose thin, 
undulating surface, some two miles in width, barely supported 
the weight of a man, in his frantic race with death. 

Back once more to the south, baffled once more in his 
schemes, but sterner than ever in the purpose to die or win 
"because the thing he has set himself to do is a part of his 
being." Peary returned to the United States, the plans 
of his eighth and final journey already maturing in his 
mind. 

The Roosevelt was docked for the purpose of repairs. 
Funds for this last journey were slow in forthcoming. Every 
expedient was tried, but, though a substantial sum was raised, 
there still lacked money to complete the work, provision and 
equip the expedition, and to pay the current expenses of the 
trip. In the midst of these perplexing problems, Peary 
received another blow in the news of the death of Mr. Morris 
K. Jesup, his most liberal supporter. With his death all 
seemed lost ; the darkest hour of discouragement had come ; 
delays of months meant perhaps the delay of years, or, pos- 
sibly, the entire abandonment of this last voyage — the voy- 
age of the forlorn hope. Proverbially the darkest hour is 
just before dawn, and the Peary Arctic Club, under its new 
president, General Thomas H. Hubbard, received a liberal 
check, tendered by Mr. Zenas Crane, the paper manufacturer 
of Massachusetts, which suddenly rent asunder the sombre 
clouds and showed once more their silver lining. 

Relieved of the mental anxiety which had been his constant 



• • * • * 
• * * * 




Copyright, 1909, by Robert E. Peary Copyright, 1909, by B, njamin B.Hampton 

The Flag that Peary carried to the Pole 

Pieces cut from its Folds mark all the " Farthest " Northern Points cf the Western 
Hemisphere : 1 and 2 were left at Tape Morris Jesup ; 3 at Cape Thomas 
Hubbard; 4 at Tape Columbia; 5 at Pearv's Farthest North, 1906 (87 <;') and 
6 at the North Pole. 



FINAL DASH FOB THE POLE, 1908 



469 



companion for months, Peary now hurried his final prepara- 
tions, and, rejoicing in his good fortune, steamed out of New 
York harbour, July 6, 1908, in the gallant Roosevelt, with 
her penants flying bravely to the breeze. Peary, now grown 
old in Arctic service, sailed to the Great White North, this 
time to reach his goal. 




Courtesy of Benjamin B. Hampton and F. A. Stokes Co. 
The Route taken by Commander Peary in 1908 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Dr. Frederick A. Cook. — Claims discover}'- of the Pole. — His return 
from the Arctic. — Reception by the Danes. — Announcement of 
conquest of the Pole by Peary. — Denounces Dr. Cook. — Delay 
of Dr. Cook to produce his data. — Acceptance of Peary's 
claims by the American Geographical Society. — Dr. Cook finally 
sends manuscript to Copenhagen. — Verdict. — Prior claim to the 
discovery of the North Pole. — Not proven. 

The announcement in the New York Herald on September 
1, 1909, of the discovery of the North Pole by Dr. Frederick 
A. Cook, of Brooklyn, New York, astounded the civilized 
world. For some years Dr. Cook's name had been associated 
with Arctic enterprise, but to the majority of the public his 
name was strange. 

In the summer of 1907, Cook had accompanied Mr. John 
R. Bradley in that gentleman's yacht in an excursion after 
big game beyond the Arctic Circle Later Mr. Bradley sailed 
home, leaving Cook with a fair supply of provisions and 
equipment, and one white companion, a German-American 
named Francke. 

On March 8, 1908, Cook left Annooktok, accompanied by 
eleven men and one hundred and three dogs, with the avowed 
purpose of reaching the Pole. Francke remained at Annook- 
tok, with instructions to return to the United States in case 
Cook did not return by June, 1908. 

News of Cook's departure for the North Pole had mean- 
while aroused interest in the United States. One of the 

470 



HIS RETURN FROM THE ARCTIC 471 

objects of Commander Peary's expedition of 1908 was "The 
Relief and Rescue of Dr. Frederick A. Cook." The big 
supply station at Etah was, in fact, established by him mainly 
for the benefit of Dr. Cook. When the Roosevelt and Erik 
arrived at Annooktok on August 7, 1908, Francke was found 
in a pitiable condition, and he begged to be sent "home." He 
was returned in the Erik (commanded by Captain Bartlett), 
and from St. John's, Newfoundland, sent out the news that 
Cook had probably perished on his way to the Pole. 

This announcement aroused so much interest that early in 
August, 1909, a relief ship left St. John's for the purpose of 
searching for Dr. Cook and for carrying provisions to Peary. 
News travels slowly "north of 53," and meanwhile Cook had 
returned. 

In April, 1909, a white man and two Eskimos appeared at 
the relief station at Annooktok, the station immediately north 
of Etah. The three were utterly fatigued and were made as 
comfortable as possible by the men whom Commander 
Peary had left behind. A few days later Cook left Annooktok 
for South Greenland, whence he took steamer for Copenhagen. 

Despatches from the Shetland Islands, the last of August, 
1909, proclaimed that Dr. Cook had reached the Pole in 
April, 1908. Cook declared his route to have been by Smith 
Sound, across Ellesmere Land, to Nansen Sound ; to Land's 
End, thence by Cape Thomas Hubbard, which' he left in 
March, 1908, to the Pole, four hundred and sixty miles distant, 
which he claims to have reached on April 21, 1908. 

The familiar story of his welcome at Copenhagen needs not 
to be retold here. Meanwhile came a despatch to the New 
York Times : — 

"I have the Pole, April 6. Expect arrive Chateau Bay, 
September 7. Secure control wire for me there and arrange 
expedite transmission big story. (( p „ 



472 THE GREAT WHITE NORTH 

At Battle Harbor, Commander Peary learned of Cook's 
claim to have reached the Pole. But Peary had carried north- 
ward a number of Eskimos, with their wives and children, 
and these he had led safely back again to Etah. However, 
the Greenland winter was approaching, and he lingered at 
Etah, organizing a walrus hunt which supplied his faithful 
company with food for the coming year. Not till this 
provision was made did he set his face toward the United 
States. 

A shadow of doubt, hardly bigger than a man's hand, which 
was cast by a part of the scientific world at the Doctor's first 
announcement, soon grew into what eventually proved to be 
a cloudburst. No controversy in the history of modern times 
has caused more general excitement. Soon the two prin- 
cipals were pursuing their separate activities under very dis- 
similar conditions. Dr. Cook was lecturing in the United 
States, facing packed houses, interviewing reporters, assert- 
ing his claims, promising proofs of his assertions. Peary 
preferred to present his own claims to the discovery of the 
Pole in terse language, the first announcement published in 
the New York Times reading : — 

"Summary of North Polar Expedition of the Peary Arctic 
Club: The steamer Roosevelt left New York on July 6, 1908; 
left Sidney on July 17; arrived at Cape York, Greenland, 
August 1 ; left Etah, Greenland, August 8 ; arrived Cape 
Sheridan, at Grant Land, September 1 ; wintered at Cape 
Sheridan. The sledge expedition left the Roosevelt February 
15, 1909, and started for the North. Arrived at "Cape Co- 
lumbia, March 1 ; passed British record, March 2 ; delayed by 
open water, March 2 and 3 ; held up by open water, March 
4 to 11; crossed the 84th parallel, March 11; encountered 
open lead, March 15; crossed 85th parallel, March 18; 
crossed 86th parallel March 23 ; encountered open lead March 
23; passed Norwegian record March 23; passed Italian 



COOK SENDS MANUSCRIPT TO COPENHAGEN 473 

record March 24; encountered open lead March 26; 
crossed 87th parallel March 27; passed American record 
March 28; encountered open lead March 28; held up by- 
open water March 29 ; crossed 88th parallel April 2 ; crossed 
89th parallel April 4; North Pole April 6 All returning 
left North Pole April 7 ; reached Cape Columbia April 23 ; 
arriving on board Roosevelt April 27. The Roosevelt left Cape 
Sheridan July 18 ; passed Cape Sabine August 8 ; left Cape 
York August 26 ; arrived at Indian Harbor with all members 
of the expedition returning in good health, except Professor 
Ross G. Marvin, unfortunately drowned April 10, when 
forty-five miles north of Cape Columbia, returning from 
86° north latitude in command of the supporting party. 

''Robert E. Peary." 

Immediately upon his return to the United States, Peary 
joined his family at their summer home in Maine, offering 
to submit his proofs at once to any competent body. The 
National Geographic Society accepting the offer, pro- 
nounced favourably upon his claims. In the meantime, 
he took no active part in the trend of affairs, but waited 
quietly for the dust to settle. 

In November, Dr. Cook cancelled his lecture engagements, 
and settled down to preparing the long-delayed proofs to 
be submitted as promised to the University of Copenhagen. 
This accomplished, he despatched a typewritten copy to the 
University of Copenhagen, Denmark. After careful delibera- 
tion, the University of Copenhagen rendered its verdict to 
the world, which, summarized in two short words, left the 
claim of Dr. Frederick A. Cook to the discovery of the North 
Pole, April 21, 1908, Not Proven. 




474 



CONCLUSION* 475 

CONCLUSION 

For three and twenty years Robert Edwin Peary has 
knocked valiantly at the portals of Immortal Fame — that 
Castle Nowhere — whose glistening walls of eternal ice lie 
shimmering in the brilliant sun; whose jewelled towers and 
minarets catch the glint of sparkling rainbows. 

The Gates at last have opened and the banquet hall is set. 
Wild Arctic melodies fall grandly upon the ear. The can- 
nonade of glaciers thunders a salute. About the festive 
board stand the heroes of the past, according to their prece- 
dence and rank. 

Hail ! ye Iva Bardsen ! Hail ! ye early Norsemen and ye 
Danes ! There stand the Cabots, John the father, Sebastian 
the bold son. There Sir Willoughby and Chancellor; and 
old Sir Humphrey Gilbert and a host of others. There 
Barentz, there Behring, — there Henry Hudson and old 
Baffin. Three hearty cheers for Von Wrangell, Ross and 
Parry and brave old Sir John Franklin ! Crozier and his 
men line at attention and salute ! 

Ah ! Elisha Kane, the beauty of a noble soul lies written 
in a gentle face. Francis Hall, thou dreamer, stand forth 
and welcome the arriving guest. German, Austrian, Nor- 
wegian and Italian, stand thou behind the board, lift high 
the diamond chalice and quaff the limpid draft in honour of the 
hero, for he comes. 

In one voice, down the ages goes the cry, "All praise to 
him who conquers!" and Peary, entering, bows, and takes his 
seat. 



EXPLANATION OF TERMS 

Bay-ice, or young ice, is that which is newly formed on the sea, 
and consists of two kinds, common bay-ice and pancake ice ; the 
former occurring in smooth, extensive sheets, and the latter in small, 
circular pieces, with raised edges. 

Beset the situation of a ship when closely surrounded by ice. 

A bight is a bay in the outline of the ice. 

Blink. A peculiar brightness of the atmosphere, often assuming 
an archlike form, which is generally perceptible over ice or land 
covered with snow. The blink of land, as well as that over large 
quantities of ice, is usually of a yellowish cast. 

Bore. The operation of " boring " through loose ice consists in 
entering it under a press of sail, and forcing the ship through by 
separating the masses. 

Brash-ice is still smaller than drift-ice, and may be considered 
as the wreck of other kinds of ice. 

Cache. Literally a hiding-place. The places of deposit of provi- 
sions in Arctic travel are so called. 

A calf is a portion of ice which has been depressed by the same 
means as a hummock is elevated. It is kept down by some larger 
mass, from beneath which it shows itself on one side. 

Drift-ice consists of pieces less than floes, of various shapes and 
magnitudes. 

Field-ice, or a field of ice, " is a sheet* of ice so extensive that its 
limits cannot be discerned from the masthead of the ship." 

Fiord. An abrupt opening in the coastline, admitting the sea. 

A floe is similar to a field, but smaller, inasmuch as its extent can 
be seen. 

Glacier. A mass of ice derived from the atmosphere, sometimes 
abutting on the sea. 

Heavy and light are terms attached to ice, distinguishable of its 
thickness. 

A hummock is a protuberance raised upon anjr plane of ice above 

477 



478 GREAT WHITE NORTH 

the common level. It is frequently produced by pressure, where 
one piece is squeezed upon another, often set upon its edge, and in 
that position cemented by the frost. Hummocks are likewise 
formed by pieces of ice mutually crushing each other, the wreck 
being heaped upon one or both of them. To hummocks, princi- 
pally, the ice is indebted for its- variety of fanciful shapes and its 
picturesque appearance. They occur in great numbers in heavy 
packs, on the edges, and occasionally in the middle of fields and 
floes, where they often attain the height of thirty feet and upwards. 
Ice-belt. A continued margin of ice, which, in high northern 
latitudes, adheres to the coast above the ordinary level of the sea. 

Iceberg. A large mass of solid ice, generally of great height, 
breadth, and thickness. 

Ice-foot. Ice attached to the land, either in floes or in heavy 
grounded masses lying near the shore. 
Ice-hook. A small ice-anchor. 

A lane or vein is a narrow channel of water in packs or other 
collections of ice. 

A lead is an opening, large or small, through the ice, in which a 
vessel can be able to make some progress either by sailing, tracking, 
or towing. 

Nipped. The situation of a ship when forcibly pressed by ice 
on both sides. 

Open-ice, or sailing-ice, is where the pieces are so separated as to 
admit of a ship sailing conveniently among them. 

A pack is a body of drift-ice, of such magnitude that its extent 
is not discernible. A pack is open when the pieces of ice, though 
very near each other, do not generally touch, or closed when the 
pieces are in complete contact. 

A patch is a collection of drift or bay-ice of a circular or polygonal 
form. In point of magnitude, a pack corresponds with a field, and 
a patch with a floe. 

Pemmican. Meat cured, pulverized, and mixed with fat, contain- 
ing much nutriment in a small compass. 
Rue-raddy. A shoulder-belt to drag by. 

Sconce pieces are broken floes of a diameter less than half a mile ; 
and, occasionally, not above a hundred or a few hundred feet. 



EXPLANATION OF TERMS 479 

Slugde consists of a stratum of detached ice crystals, or of snow, 
or of the smaller fragments of brash-ice, floating on the surface of 
the sea. 

A stream is an oblong collection of drift or bay-ice, the pieces of 
which are continuous. It is called a sea-stream when it is exposed 
on one side to the ocean, and affords shelter from the sea to whatever 
is within it. 

Land-ice consists of drift-ice attached to the shore; or drift-ice 
which, by being covered with mud or gravel, appears to have re- 
cently been in contact with the shore ; or the flat ice resting on the 
land, not having the appearance or elevation of icebergs. 

Tide-hole. A well sunk in the ice for the purpose of observing 
tides. 

A tongue is a point of ice projecting nearly horizontally from a 
part that is under water. Ships have sometimes run aground upon 
tongues of ice. 

Tracking. Towing along a margin of ice. 

Water-sky. A dark appearance in the sky, indicating " clear 
water " in that direction, and forming a striking contrast with the 
" blink " over land or ice. 



INDEX 



Abruzzi, Duke of, the, 425-430. 

Adams, Captain, 451. 

Advance, voyage of, 105, 108, 113; 
second voyage, 198-200 ; winters 
in Rensselaer Harbour, 202 ; aban- 
donment, 228. 

Advice, voyage of, 103. 

Albert, Prince of Monaco, 422. 

Aldrich, Lieutenant, farthest, 325. 

Alert, voyage of, 310 ; high northing, 
314 ; winters at Floe-berg Beach, 
315-324 ; rejoins the Discovery, 
326. 

Alexai, 346, 351, 360. 

Alexander, voyage of, 30. 

Ambler, Dr. J. M., 346, 349, 352, 367. 

America, voyage of, 430, 432, 433. 

Amundsen, Anton, 410. 

Amundsen, Captain Roald, success- 
ful navigation of Northwest Pas- 
sage, 450-454. 

Anderson, James, 185. 

Andree, Salamon August, 422— 424. 

Andreief, Lieutenant, 370. 

Andriz, Claes, 17. 

Anequin, 346. 

Anjou, Lieutenant P. F., 25. 

Archer, Lieutenant, surveys Archer 
Fiord, 326. 

Arctic, in command of Lieutenant 
Hartstein, 232. 

Assistance, in command of Captain 
Ommaney, 104, 109, 120 ; in com- 
mand of Sir Edward Belcher, 141, 
143, 179, 191. 

Astrup, Eivind, 457, 459, 460. 

Austin, Captain H. T., 104, 120, 122. 

Austro-Hungarian expedition, 286. 



Back, Captain G., search for Ross, 
67 ; explores Great Fish River, 71 ; 



Back's farthest, 72 ; second voy- 
age, 73 ; land voyage with Frank- 
lin, 82, 85, 87, 88; second land 
journey with Franklin, 90. 

Bade, Captain, 424. 

Baffin, 21. 

Baldwin, Evelyn, 425, 430, 432, 459. 

Baldwin-Ziegler expedition, 430-434. 

Balto, the Lapp, 403. 

Banman, Lieutenant Victor, 433. 

Bardsen, Iva, 2. 

Barnes, Captain, of Sea Breeze, 346. 

Barentz, William, three voyages, 
13-17. 

Barnard, Lieutenant, murdered, 174. 

Barreto Junior, 93. 

Barry, Captain, 342. 

Bartlett, Captain, 440. 

Bauldry, Captain, of the Helen Mar, 
346. 

Bear, 398-400. 

Beaumont, Lieutenant L. A., ex- 
plores Greenland coast, 326. 

Bedford, 80. 

Beebe, William M. Jr., 379-380, 
383. 

Beechey, Captain, in command of 
Blossom, 60. 

Behring, 21-24. 

Belcher, Sir Edward, in command of 
search expedition, 141, 143, 148 ; 
directs sledging parties, 174-177 ; 
desertion of the ships, 179. 

Belgia, 430, 432. 

Bellerophone, 80. 

Bellot, Lieutenant, French navy, 
123, 127, 129, 131, 133, 136; 
death of, 169-172. 

Bender, 393. 

Bennett, James Gordon, 345. 

Berggren, Dr., 300. 



481 



482 



INDEX 



Bessels, Dr. Emil, accompanies Po- 
laris expedition, 254 ; sledge jour- 
ney, 256. 

Beverly, Surgeon, 32. 

Biederbick, 392. 

Billings, Captain, 25. 

Birulja, A., 418. 

Bona Speranza, in command of Sir 
Hugh Willoughby, 5. 

Bona Ventura, in command of 
Richard Chancellor, 6. 

Boothia Felix, 67. 

Boothia Peninsula, examined by 
M'Clintock, 100. 

Bore, Lieutenant G., Royal Italian 
navy, 304. . 

Bradley, John R., 470. 

Brainard, D. L., 373 ; highest north, 
376, 385, 391, 394, 396. 

Braskerud, 439, 441. 

Brattelid, 2. 

Bridgman, H. L., 440, 460, 464. 

British expedition of 1875, 310. 

Brown, Captain, in command of the 
Delight, 11. 

Brunsneff, 421. 

Buchan, 29^0. 

Buddington, Captain S. O., in com- 
mand George Henry, 243 ; sailing 
master of Polaris, 254 ; wreck of 
Polaris, 259 ; winters Life Boat 
Cove, 261. 

Bunge, Dr. A., 417. 

Burrough, Stephen, 6 ; discovers 
strait leading into Kara Sea and 
winters at Colomogro, 7. 

Butler, Captain, 10. 

Cabot, John, 3-4. 

Cabot, Sebastian, 3-5. 

Cagni, Captain Umberto, 426 ; high- 
est north, 428. 

Cannon, Henry W., 464. 

Cape Bounty, discovered by Parry, 
42. 

Carcase, in command of Phipps, 27. 

Carlsen, Captain E., navigates the 
Sea of Kara, 268. 

Cato, voyage of, 80. 

Cator, Lieutenant Commander, of 
the Intrepid, 104. 



Chamberlin, Professor T. C, 460. 

Chancellor, Richard, 5 ; reaches 
Bay of St. Nicholas, undertakes 
visit to Moscow, 6. 

Chandler, Hon. W. E., 400. 

Chipp, Lieutenant C. W., executive 
officer of the Jeannette, 345, 348 ; 
abandonment of Jeannette, 351 ; 
assigned to second cutter, 353 ; 
lost, 357. 

Christainsen, Hans, Eskimo inter- 
preter for second Grinnell ex- 
pedition, 200, 208, 210, 219, 228; 
accompanies Polaris expedition, 
254 ; adrift on the ice floe, 260, 266. 

Christensen, Eskimo, 375, 393. 

Clavering, Captain, 57. 

Coffin, Captain Edwin, 432. 

Collins, Jerome J., 346, 351 ; death, 
360. 

Collinson, Captain Richard, in com- 
mand of Enterprise, 103. 

Colwell, Lieutenant J. C, 381, 384, 
395, 400. 

Conway, Sir Martin, 421. 

Cook, Captain, 28. 

Cook, Dr. Frederick A., 457 ; claims 
discovery of the Pole, 471-473. 

Coppinger, Dr., 326. 

Cortereals, Caspar, Miguel, Vasco, 7. 

Crane, Zenas, 468. 

Cresswell, Lieutenant, 148 ; carries 
despatches from McClure to Eng- 
land, 149. 

"Crimson Cliffs," first mentioned 
by Captain John Ross, 31. 

" Croker Mountains," 32. 

Cross, Mrs. Susan J., 459. 

Crozier, Captain F. R. M., 187. 

Daly, Charles P., 335. 

Daly, Maria, 335. 

Danenhower, .Lieutenant John W., 

346, 349, 351, 364. 
Davis, John, three voyages, 13. 
Dawn, bark, 346. 
Dawson, Lieutenant, 370. 
Dease and Simpson, 73-75. 
Dedrick. Dr., 440. 
Delight, under Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 

10. 



INDEX 



483 



De Long, Lieutenant George W., in 
command of the Jeannette expedi- 
tion, 345 ; new lands, 350 ; aban- 
donment of the Jeannette, 351 ; the 
retreat, 352 ; Bennett Island, 353 ; 
divides party, 353 ; making for 
the Lena delta, 357 ; lands, 358 ; 
last days, 360. 

Deshneff, 22. 

Dicuil, 2. 

Diebitsch, Emil, 462. 

Dietrichson, O. C, 403, 406. 

Diggs, Sir Dudley, 19. 

Discovery, in command of Henry 
Hudson, 19 ; Discovery, voyage of, 
310 ; winters at Discovery Har- 
bour, 314; communicates with the 
Alert, 324 ; return to England, 326. 

Dorothea, voyage of, 33-40. 

Dressier, 360. 

Duffy, Seaman, 434. 

Dunbar, William M., 346, 350. 

Dymphna, 370. 

Eddystone, 45. 

Egerton, Lieutenant, 315, 320, 326. 

Einarsfjord, 2. 

Ekholm, 370. 

Elison, 388-390-393 ; death, 400. 

Emory, Lieutenant, 399-400. 

Enterprise, in command of Sir James 
Clark Ross, 95, 98 ; under Captain 
Richard Collinson, 103, 166. 

Entrikin, Samuel J., 459. 

Erebus, in command of Sir John 
Franklin, 93 ; last seen, 94. 

Eriksen, Mylius, 451. 

Esther, 335, 336, 342. 

Fairholme, Lieutenant, 93. 

Falcon, voyage of, 459, 460. 

Felix, in command of Captain John 

Ross, 104, 123. 
Fiala, Anthony, 432-434. 
Fitz james, 193. 

Forsyth, Commander Charles C, 104. 
Forth, convoy for Duchess of An- 

gouleme, 81. 
Fosheim, 441-443. 
Fox, voyage of, 186. 
Fram, Nansen's voyage in the, 410- 



416 ; four years' voyage in com- 
mand of Otto Sverdrup, 436-449. 

Franaenkel, 422. 

Franklin, John, 29 ; early life, 79 ; 
first land journey, 82"; land 
journey of 1825, 91-92 ; govern- 
ment service, 92 ; last journey of 
Sir John Franklin, 93 ; traces of 
lost ships, 110-184; record of 
Franklin expedition, 190-193. 

Franklin, Lady Jane, 92 ; offers 
reward for assistance to her hus- 
band, 102 ; appeal to the United 
States, 104. 

Frederick, 388-390, 393. 

Frithiof, 430-434. 

Frobisher, Martin, three voyages, 8. 

Frozen Strait of Middleton, 47. 

Fury, voyage of, 44-56 ; abandoned, 
51. 

Gabriel, in command of Martin 
Frobisher, 8. 

Gardiner, 392. 

Garlington, Lieutenant E. A., 381, 
384, 387. 

George Henry, conveys Charles 
Francis Hall to Greenland, 180 ; 
under Captain Buddington, 243. 

Georgian Islands, later called Parry 
Islands, discovered, 43. 

Gerlache, Captain, 430. 

German expedition, first, 268 ; sec- 
ond, 269; beset, 279; winters, 
278, remarkable journey of Lieu- 
tenant Payer, 281. 

Germania, in command of Captain 
Koldeway, beset, 279 ; winters, 
281 ; return, 285. 

Gibson, Langdon, 457. 

Giese, Dr., 370. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 10-13. 

Gilder, W. H., 334, 340-344. 

Gjoa, in command of Captain Roald 
Amundsen, 450-454. 

Gladen, convoy, 300. 

Golden Hinde, 10. 

Goodsir, Dr., 103, 122. 

Gore, Graham, 191-194. 

Gore, Professor J. H., 422. 

Gortz, 360. 



484 



INDEX 



Greely, A. W. (Major General 
U. S. A.), Lieutenant in command 
of the Lady Franklin Bay expedi- 
tion, 371, explorations in Grinnell 
Land, 377 ; first failure of relief 
ship, 379 ; second failure of relief 
ship, 382 ; abandonment of Fort 
Conger, 385 ; the retreat, 386 ; 
Cape Sabine, establishes Camp 
Clay, 387 ; horrors of the winter, 
380-392 ; saved, 395^00. 

Green, sailor, 20. 

Greenland, yacht, in command of 
Captain Koldewey, 268. 

Grinnell expeditions, first, in com- 
mand of De Haven, 105, 119; sec- 
ond, in command of Dr. Kane, 
199 ; winters in Rensselaer Har- 
bour, 202 ; sledging trips, 207 ; 
effects of exhaustion and cold, 211 ; 
Dr. Kane's journey, 215 ; illness of 
Dr. Kane, 219 ; second winter in 
the ice, 223 ; privation and suf- 
ferings, 225 ; abandonment of 
Advance, 228 ; death of Ohlsen, 
229 ; rescue, 230. 

Grinnell, Henry, 105. 

Grinnell Land, discovered, 115. 

Griper, in command of Parry, 41 ; 
in command of Clavering, 58. 

Haddington, Lord, 92. 

Hall, Charles Francis, early life, 243 ; 
first trip to Arctic, discovers Fro- 
bisher relics, 244-255 ; life with 
Eskimo, 246 ; journey to King 
William Land, 248 ; finds relics of 
FraDklin, 251 ; return, to the United 
States, 253 ; North Polar voyage, 
254, death of Hall, 255. 

Hansa, second German expedition, 
269 ; wreck of, 274. 

Hansen, Helmer, 450. 

Hansen, Lieutenant Godfred, 450, 
452. 

Harber, Lieutenant Giles B., 364, 
368. 

Hartstein, Lieutenant, sent to the 
relief of Dr. Kane, 232-234. 

De Haven, Lieutenant in command 
of first Grinnell expedition, 105. 



Hayes, Dr. I. I., accompanies second 
Grinnell expedition, 213, 219 ; in 
command of the United States, 235 ; 
death of Sonntag, 236 ; sledge 
journey to "Open Polar Sea," 239 ; 
journey in Panther, 242. 

Hazen, General, 380, 384. 

Hearne, discovers the Copperning 
River, 28. 

Hecla, in command of Parry, 41-56. 

Hegemann, Fr., Captain, in command 
of the Hansa, 269. 

Heiberg, Consul Axel, 436. 

Heilprin, Professor, 458. 

Helen Mar, whaler, 346. 

Henry, 392, 399. 

Henry VII, grants patent to Cabots, 3. 

Henson, Matthew, 457, 459, 463. 

Hepburn, John, 83, 123. 

Herald, voyage of, 95, 149. 

Hobson, Lieutenant, makes search 
for Franklin relics, 186, 197. 

Hood, Robert, 82, 84 ; death, 89. 

Hope, 464. 

Hoppner, Lieutenant, 51. 

Horgaard, Lieutenant, 304, 370. 

Hubbard, General Thomas H., 468. 

Hudson, Henry, early voyages, 19 ; 
last voyage, 20. 

Hyde, Frederick E., 464. 

Icy Cape, headland of Alaska, seen 
by Barentz, 16. 

Iron Mountains, 460. 

Isabel, in command of Captain Ingle- 
field, R. N., 143-147; in command 
of Mr. Kennedy, 148. 

Isabella, under Ross and Parry, 30. 

Isachsen, Lieutenant Ingrald, 436, 
439, 442. 

Isbjorn, in command of Lieutenant 
Weyprecht, 286. 

Island of Cape Breton, seen by 
Cabots, 3. 

Israel, 392. 

Iversen, 360. 

Jackman, Charles, 9. 
Jackson, Frederick G., 416. 
Jackson, J. P., 364. 
Jason, 425. 



INDEX 



485 



Jeannette, in command of Captain De 
Long, 345 ; beset, 347 ; is sunk, 351 ; 
relics found, 409. 

Jeannette expedition, 345-368. 

Jens, Esldmo, 372. 

Jensen, Herr Dongaad, 451. 

Jesup, Morris K., 464. 

Jewell, 393. 

Johannsen, Captain, circumnavigates 
Nova Zembla, 268. 

Johannesen, Frederik, 410, 413, 415. 

Juanita, 346. 

Kamchatka, 22. 

Kane, Dr. Elisha Kent, U. S. N., 105 ; 
describes escape from Wellington 
Channel, 113; new lands, 115; 
death, 234. 

Kann, Dr. Leopold, 466. 

Keemsdirk, Jacob, 16. 

Kellett, Captain Henry, 95. 

Kelley, Captain of the bark Dawn, 
346. 

Kennedy, Captain in command of 
Prince Albert, 123-129 ; journey to 
Fury Beach, 138 ; discovers Bellot 
Strait, 140. 

King Alfred, 2. 

King, Dr. Richardr 67, 72. 

Kite, voyages of, 457, 458, 464. 

Kjellman, F. R., 304. 

Koldewey, Captain Karl, in com- 
mand of Germania, 269, 271, 281, 
284. 

Kolomiezoff, Lieutenant, 418. 

Koltschak, Lieutenant, 418-420. 

Lady Franklin, in command of Mr. 
Penny, 103 ; in command of Ingle- 
field, 148. 

Lady Franklin Bay expedition, 371- 
400. 

Lanford, Captain, in command of 
Polephemus, 80. 

Lerner, Theodor, 424. 

Libbey, Professor William, 460. 

Linstrom, Adolf, 450. 

Lockwood, Lieutenant J. B., 372 ; 
highest north, 376, 386; death, 
393. 

Lok, Michael, patron of Frobisher, 8. 



Long, Captain Thomas, 268. 

Long, Sergeant, 391, 394, 398, 400. 

Lord Wellington, Hudson Bay Com- 
pany trader, 45. 

Lowe, Chief Engineer, U. S. JST., 398. 

Lund, Auto, 450. 

Lynn, 388-390. 

Lyon, Lieutenant, 44, 48; in command 
of Griper, 59. 

Lyons, Admiral, 454. 

Lytzen, 409. 

Machuron, Alexis, 423. 

Mackenzie, 28. 

M'Clintock, explores coast line of 
Boothia Peninsula, 100 ; sledge 
journey of 1851, 121 ; in command 
of Fox, 186 ; finds relics of Frank- 
lins expedition, 190-198. 

McClure, Commander, 103 ; accom- 
plishes Northwest Passage, 148- 
168. 

McLeod, employee of Hudson Bay 
Company, accompanies Captain 
Back, 68. 

Mairgaard, Christian, 456. 

Marian, rescues the Kane party, 231. 

Markham, Commander Albert H., 
second in command of the British 
expedition of 1875, 311 ; visits 
Lipboat Cove, 313 ; autumn sledge 
journey, 315; Mar kham's farthest, 
321. 

Marvin, Professor Ross G., 473. 

Mathew, voyage of, 3. 

Melville, George W. (Rear Admiral 
United States Navy), Engineer of 
the Jeannette, 346, 348, 350 ; aban- 
donment of the Jeannette, 351 ; in 
command of whale boat, 353 ; 
reaches mouth of Lena River, 358 ; 
meets natives, 359 ; Nindemann 
and Noros, 362 ; winter search for 
De Long, 363 ; spring search, 364- 
368 ; to the relief of Greely, 399- 
400. 

Melville, Right Honourable Viscount, 
52. 

"Meta Incognita," discovered by 
Frobisher, 8 ; mentioned by Hall, 
244. 



486 



INDEX 



Meyer, Sergeant F., Signal Corps, 
U. S. A., with Polaris expedition, 
makes record, 256. 

Michael, sails in company with the 
Gabriel, under command of Fro- 
bisher, 8. 

Michaelmas Bay, so named by Hud- 
son, 19. 

Milne, Captain, 451. 

Molinelli, Dr. Achille C, 426, 427, 428. 

Moore, Captain, in command of 
Plover, 95. 

Movements of Captain Austin's 
squadron in spring of 1851, 121. 

Murdock, sailing master, first Grin- 
nell expedition, 105. 

Muscovy Company, established by 
merchants of London, 4. 

Nahorst, Dr. A. G., 422, 424. 

Nancy Dawson, 96. 

Nansen, F., 401 ; first crossing of 
Greenland, 403-408; plans North 
Polar voyage, 409 ; adrift in the 
pack, 411; leaves the Fram, 412; 
highest north, 413 ; the retreat, 
414 ; winter on Franz Joseph Land, 
415 ; meeting with Jackson, 416, 
426, 436. 

Nares, Captain George S., in com- 
mand of the British expedition 
of 1875, 311 ; visits Lifeboat Cove, 
313 ; winters Floe-berg Beach, 
315 ; organizes sledging parties, 
321 ; to the relief of Markham, 324. 

-Nautilus, 44. 

Nelson, hero of Trafalgar, 27, 28. 

Neptune, 379, 380, 384. 

Newcomb, Raymond L., 346. 

New York Herald, 345, 364, 470. 

Nindemann, Seaman Wm. F. C, 346, 
348, 350; forced march, 360; 
meets Melville, 362; assists in 
search for De Long, 364, 366, 368. 

Nordenskjold, Baron A. E. von, 
first voyage, Spitzbergen, 299 ; 
subsequent journeys, 300 ; journey 
of 1875, 302 ; voyage in the Vega, 
304-308 ; return of Vega, 309. 

Nordenskjold, the, 371. 

Norman, 397. 



Noros, L. P., 359, 361, 362, 364. 

North Cape, 2. 

North Star, 99; winters in Wolsten- 

holme Sound, 103-104 ; attached 

to Sir Edward Belcher's squadron, 

140, 144, 169, 179. 
Nova Scotia, supposed to be land 

first seen by Cabots, 3. 

Ohlsen, accompanies second Grinnell 
expedition, 202, 204, 207, 213, 216 ; 
death of, 229. 

Ommaney, Captain, in command of 
Assistance, 104 ; leaves record at 
Cape Riley, 109. 

Onkle Adam, convoy, 300. . 

Omen, balloon, 422. 

Osborne, Sherard, in command of 
Pioneer, 104 ; describes examina- 
tion of Beechey Island, finds relics 
of Erebus and Terror, 111. 

Other, early adventurer, 2. 

Otter, Count T. W. von, in command 
of Sofia, 299. 

Palander, Lieutenant, 300; com- 
mander of the Vega, 304. 

Palliser, navigates Sea of Kara, 268. 

Pandora, voyage of, 327-330 ; second 
voyage, 332-334. 

Parker, landed provisions for Frank- 
lin at Cape Hay, 103. 

Parr, Lieutenant, 315, 323. 

Parry, Lieutenant W. E., 29 ; second 
voyage, 41; passes 110° W., wins 
reward, 42 ; discovers Parry Is- 
lands, 43 ; third voyage, 44-51 ; 
North Polar voyage, 52. 

Paulsen, A., 370. 

Pavy, Dr. D., 372; sledge journey, 
273, 392, 393. 

Payer, Lieutenant Julius, of the 
second German expedition, journey 
of, 283 ; Austro-Hungarian expe- 
dition, 287 ; sledge journey, 291 ; 
farthest, 296; return, 297. 

Peary, Mrs., 457, 459. 

Peary, Robert Edwin, early life, 455 ; 
first journey, 456 ; subsequent jour- 
neys, 457 ; explores Greenland ice 
cap, 458 ; summary of second 



INDEX 



487 



Peary (continued) 

voyage, 459 ; journey of 1893, 
second journey across Greenland 
ice cap, 460 ; summer voyages, 
464 ; secures the famous meteorite, 
464 ; first attempt to reach Pole, 
464; work at Fort Conger, 465; 
record of 1899, 466; record 1902, 
467 ; record 1906, 468 ; announce- 
ment of discovery of the Pole, 471 ; 
summary of the North Polar Expe- 
dition of Peary Arctic Club, 472. 

Peary Arctic Club, 464, 467, 468, 
472. 

Peder, 442. 

Pendulum Islands, discovered by 
Clavering, 280. 

Penny, Captain, of whaling ship 
Advice, 103. 

Pet, Arthur, voyage of, 9. 

Peterman, Dr. A., promotes first 
German expedition, 268. 

Peters, William J., 432. 

Petersen, 316 ; death, 320. 

Phipps expedition, 27-28. 

Phoenix, in command of Inglefield, 
148. 

Pim, Lieutenant, 167. 

Pioneer, in command of Sherard 
Osborne, 141. 

Plover, in command of Captain 
Moore, 95, 96, 149. 

Polaris, under Captain Hall, 254 ; 
under Captain Buddington, 256 ; 
wreck of, 259 ; separation of crew, 
261. 

Polephemus, 80. 

Polhem, in command of Lieutenant 
Palander, 300. 

Porden, Anne, first wife of Sir John 
Franklin, 81, 90. 

Porpoise, 80. 

"Prima Terra Vesta," mainland of 
North America, so named by 
Cabots, 3. 

Prince Albert, in command of Captain 
Forsyth, 104-106 ; in command of 
Kennedy, 123, 140. 

Prince of Wales, trader, 45, 82, 94. 

Privy Purse expenses for purchase of 
Newfoundland, 3. 



Proteus, conveys the Lady Franklin 
Bay expedition to Fort Conger, 
371 ; to the relief, 381 ; sunk, 384, 
387, 397. 

Pullen, Lieutenant, 96. 

Pytheas, early adventurer, 2. 

Queen Elizabeth's Foreland, dis- 
covered by Frobisher, 8. 
Querini, T., 426, 428. 

Racehorse, in command of Phipps, 27. 

Rae, Dr. John, overland journey, 75- 
78 ; search for Franklin, 141 ; finds 
traces, 184. 

Ragnvaldjail, 424. 

Rainbow, in command of Sir John 
Franklin, 92. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 10. 

Rasmussen, Knut, 451. 

Rattlesnake, under Commander Trol- 
lope, 148. 

Ravna, the Lapp, 403. 

Rawson, Lieutenant, 315, 318, 235, 
326. 

Ray, Lieutenant, 370. 

Red Cliff House, 457. 

Reid, 122. 

Release, in command of Lieutenant 
Hartstein, sent to relief of Dr. 
Kane, 232. 

Resolute, in command of Captain 
H. T. Austin, 104 ; under Captain 
Kellett, 141 ; story of the, 180. 

Retribution, 182. 

Rice, Sergeant, 373, 388 ; death, 393. 

Rink, Dr. H., 409. 

Ristvedt, 452. 

Robinson, Lieutenant, reaches Cress- 
well Bay, 101, 130. 

Rogers, burned, 368. 

Roosevelt, 467, 469. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 464. 

Ross, Captain John, first voyage, 29- 
32 ; second voyage, 61-67 ; search 
for Sir John Franklin, 123. 

Ross, James Clark, discovers North 
Magnetic Pole, 63 ; in command 
of Enterprise and Investigator, in 
search for Sir John Franklin, 95. 

Ryder, Lieutenant, 437. 



488 



INDEX 



Sabine, takes observations on Pen- 
dulum Islands, 58. 

Sacheuse, John, Eskimo, 30. 

St. Peter, 24. 

Sarya, 418-421. 

Schalaroff, 25. 

Schei, 442. 

Schileiko, Lieutenant, 418. 

Schley, Winfield Scott (Rear Admi- 
ral, United States Navy), 382, 395, 
400. 

Schuetze, W. H., 364-368. 

Schwatka, Lieutenant Frederick, land 
journey, 334 ; finds Franklin relics, 
339 ; finds M'Clintock record, 340 ; 
the return, 340. 

Scoresby, 57. 

Scott-Hansen, Lieutenant Sigurd, 
410. 

Sea Breeze, American whale bark, 
346. 

Search-thrift in command of Stephen 
Burrough, 6. 

Seeberg, 421. 

Sheldon, Robert, 96. 

Simmons, Herman Georg, 436. 

Simpson and Dease, 73-75. 

Slaradoubzov, Sawa, 24. 

Smellen, Dr., 370. 

Smith, Leigh, 302. 

Snow, W. P., 104, 106, 108. 

Sofia, in command of Count F. W. 
von Otter, 299; high northing, 
300. 

"Somerset House," 65. 

Sonntag, 206 ; death, 236. 

Sophia, in command of Penny, 
103. 

Speckman, Sergeant, 49. 

Squirrel, 10-12. 

Stadling, J., 424. 

Steen, Ansel, S., 370. 

Stein, Dr. Robert, 466. 

Stella Polare, in command of the 
Duke of the Abruzzi, 426-430. 

Stephenson, George, 229. 

Stewart, Marshall J., 122. 

Strindberg, 422. 

Sutherland, Dr., 122. 

Svendsen, Dr. Johan, 438. 

Sverdrup, Otto, 403-408; Captain 



of the Fram, 410-412 ; second 
voyage in command of Fram, 435; 
sledge journey, 441, 443, 447, 
449. 
Swallow, 10-12. 

Talbot, 179. 

Tchitschagof, Admiral, attempts to 
round Spitzbergen in 1764, 25. 

Tegetthoff, Austro-Hungarian expe- 
dition, 286-297, 368. 

Terra Nova, 434. 

Terror, in command of Captain Back, 
73 ; in command of Sir John 
Franklin, 93. 

Lord Wellington, the, trader, 45. 

Thetis, voyage of, 395-400. 

Thyra, 403. 

Tigress, in command of Captain 
Bartlett, 266, 346. 

Toll, Baron E. von, 417, 421. 

Torrell, Otto, geologist, 298. 

Trang, Kristian, 403. 

Trollope, Commander, 148. 

Tschirikov, Captain, 22. 

Tyson, Captain George, 255 ; adrift 
on ice-floe, 262 ; rescue, 266. 

Valorous, 311, 312. 

Varna, 370. 

Veer, Gerard de, 16. 

Vega, voyage of, 303-309, 346. 

Verhoeff, John M., 457. 

Victory, in command of Captain John 

Ross, 61 ; abandoned, 64. 
Victory, 183. 
Viking, 402. 
Vincent, Dr. Edward E., 459. 

Walter, Dr., 420. 

Wardhuys, 5. 

Warmbath, Samuel, 466. 

Waxall, 24. 

Wellman, Walter, 424-425. 

Weyprecht, Lieutenant Karl, sails in 
Isbjorn, 286 ; in command of Aus- 
tro-Hungarian expedition, 287— 
297, 368. 

Wildes, Commander Frank, 381, 
383. 

Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 5. 



INDEX 



489 



Windward, 416, 465, 466. 
Wohlgemuth, Lieutenant, 370. 
Wolstenholme, Sir John, 19. 
Wrangell, Admiral von, 25-27. 
Wulfstan, early adventurer, 2. 

Yantic, voyage of, 381-384. 
Ymer, 303. 



Young, Allen, voyage in the Fox, 186 ; 
sledge journey, 198 ; voyage in 
Pandora, 327-331 ; second voyage 
in Pandora, 332-334. 

Zeno, Niccolo, 8. 

Zichnmi, 8. 

Ziegler, William, 430-^32. 



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